Delivered at the Humanities Auditorium at Massey University, Palmerston North in September 2001, New Zealand composer John Cousins' address revolves around diary notes and recordings from his stay in an area on the northwest coast of New Zealand's South Island over the summer of 1995. Cousins describes how his journeys to the area became creative expeditions, as he began to make work in, of, and from the location, and how the area became central in forming his aesthetic and philosophical stance.
John Cousins was born in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1943. He received training as a musician, graduating with an honours degree in music from the University of Canterbury in 1965. In 1967 he was appointed to the staff of the university’s School of Music, subsequently working there as a teacher and creative artist until 2004 when he left to concentrate fully on making and promulgating his work.
