Margaret Sutherland
Biography
Margaret Ada Sutherland AO OBE (20 November 1897, Adelaide, Aus. – 12 August 1984, Melbourne, Aus.) was an Australian composer.
After early studies in Melbourne, she trained in England with Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams before returning to Australia where her career was interrupted by marriage and family life.
Resuming her work in the late 1940s, she produced a substantial body of orchestral, chamber, and vocal music, particularly concentrated on chamber music. Her major works include a symphony, The Four Temperaments, concertos for various instruments (including violin), a symphonic poem entitled Haunted Hills, and the chamber opera The Young Kabbarli (1964). A severe stroke in 1969 ended her composing career.
Beyond composition, Sutherland was a tireless advocate for Australian music and central to the creation of Melbourne's Southbank arts precinct, now home to many of the city's leading cultural institutions.
Works for Winds
- Haunted Hills (arr. Holland) (1950/2018)
References
- Margaret Sutherland. Wikipedia. Accessed 29 October 2025