Biography
John Cousins was born in 1943 in Wellington. He received training as a musician, graduating with an honors degree in music from the University of Canterbury in 1965. In 1967 he was appointed to the staff of the School of Music of that University, where he worked as teacher and creative artist until 2004, when he left the university in order to concentrate fully on making and promulgating his work which has evolved over the years from conventional musical composition to sculptural performance, mixed media and sonic art. His works have been performed, broadcast and exhibited in Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Holland, Mexico, South America, Russia and the United States of America.
John's work Say was nominated for a SOUNZ Contemporary Award in 2004. In 2005 John was awarded the KBB Citation for Services to New Zealand Music by CANZ (Composers' Association of New Zealand). Much of John's recent work has explored the electroacoustic medium using multichannel outputs, including multimedia integration. In 2013 contemporary art project space The Physics Room coordinated visits to John's acousmonium loudspeaker orchestra, as part of their Loudspeaker as Shaman showing.
Photo credit: Colleen Anstey
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