Dorothy Ker

Dorothy Ker (born 1965) is a New Zealand-born composer of instrumental and vocal music who has lived in the UK since 1992. She is known for her inter-disciplinary collaborations and experimentation with live electronic music performances.^[1]

Ker was born in Carterton, in the North Island of New Zealand in 1965.^[2]

Ker completed B.Mus and M.Mus degrees at the University of Auckland, where she studied composition and electronic music with John Rimmer.^[3] She emigrated to the UK in 1992,^[4] and completed a Ph.D in composition at the University of York in 1998.^[5]

Following her graduation, Ker took up a position at the University of Reading. She later moved to the position of Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield,^[6] before becoming a lecturer in Composition there,^[7] and most recently, a Senior Lecturer in Music.^[8]

In 2008, a collaboration with the mathematician Marcus du Sautoy resulted in the creation and performance of a piece of experimental music, The 19th Step.^[9] The research with du Sautoy was later the basis for a mixed-media theatre piece produced in collaboration with the sculptor Kate Allen in 2010.^[10]

In July 2013, Ker began a year-long position in Wellington, New Zealand, as a Research Teaching Associate at the New Zealand School of Music.^[11]

In 2015, Ker received the 2015 Composers Association of New Zealand Trust Fund Award for her contribution to music composition.^[12]

Ker's music has been heard at international festivals in Auckland, Belfast, Darmstadt, Huddersfield, Perth, Taipei, Seoul, at the International Society for Contemporary Music, in London and on BBC Radio 3 and Radio New Zealand.^[13][14]

• Movement for String Orchestra
• The Structure of Memory (mixed chamber ensemble of 10 players)
• diffracted terrains: duo i (bass clarinet and double bass)
• diffracted terrains: duo ii (vioin, French horn and piano)
• diffracted terrains: quintet (alto/bass flute, clarinet in A/bass clarinet, violin, viola and cello)
• solo for cello
• water mountain (violin, B flat clarinet and cello)
• [...and...1] (clarinet)
• [...and...11] (for 12 players)
• Clepsydra (oboe)
• On the Bridge (solo soprano)
• Le kaleidoscope de l’obscurite (clarinet, bass clarinet, cello, double bass)
• The Third Dream (orchestra)
• Rare Earth (cello)
• face (flute)
• fantasia (solo flute and orchestra)
• the history of rock (piano)
• Sonatine (violin and piano)
• a gentle infinity (orchestra)
• The Rock, Whatipu (solo soprano)
• Close-Up of a Daisy (a cappella choir)
• Arise, Shine! (choir and organ)
• If all the world were paper
• Koru (choir and piano)
• City (female voices and piano)
• Darkness and Light (orchestra)
• from States of Zero (solo violin)
• Dances After the Haiku (soprano, viola, clarinet, cello and piano)
• these children singing in stone a (a cappella choir)
• Behind the Apple Cases at Mapua (a cappella choir and solo soprano)
• Dreams from Stone Landscapes (soprano with flute/piccolo, oboe, clarinet)
• Winter Dusk (unaccompanied choir)
• and the rain ... (choir)
• six pieces locating the body (B flat clarinet and bass clarinet)
• The Truth of Fire (vocal ensemble (12 voices) and unseen narrator)

• The Structure of Memory on New Zealand Women Composers (2003)
• Diffracted Terrains - Chamber Music of Dorothy Ker (2008)
• [...and...1] on A Place in the Sky
• Clepsydra on New Music for a New Oboe Volume 2

• Institutional page