George Logie-Smith

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(2 December 191419 April 2007) was an Australian

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

and choral

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

, music examiner, and music educator.

Biography

George Logie Smith was born in Ascot Vale a suburb of

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, to parents David Edgar "Edgar" Smith and Margaret Jane "Maggie" (née Logie) who had migrated to Australia from

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

before he was born. His birth registration shows the year of birth as 1913 although more usually his birth is recorded as 2 December 1914. At age 15 he conducted

Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti. Born in Halle, Germany, H ...

's ''

Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...

'' at a local church. He studied piano with Roy Shepherd, a pupil of

Alfred Cortot Alfred Denis Cortot ( , ; 26 September 187715 June 1962) was a French pianist, conductor, and teacher who was one of the most renowned classical musicians of the 20th century. A pianist of massive repertory, he was especially valued for his po ...

. He won a number of piano competitions and gave recitals. Shepherd was appointed Director of Music at

Geelong College The Geelong College is an Australian independent and co-educational, Christian day and boarding school located in Newtown, an inner-western suburb of Geelong, Victoria. Established in 1861 by Alexander James Campbell, a Presbyterian minister, ...

in 1936, but had to withdraw within a year due to illness. He persuaded the headmaster, the Rev. Frank (later Sir Francis) Rolland, to appoint the 22-year-old Logie-Smith in his place, despite him having no academic qualifications or teacher training. The college's annual production of

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and to the works they jointly created. The two men collaborated on fourteen com ...

operas at

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

's largest cinema, under Logie-Smith's direction, became an event in Geelong's cultural life. In 1948 he took a year's leave from the college to study conducting in England with Sir

Adrian Boult Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH (; 8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was a British conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London ...

and

John Barbirolli Sir John Barbirolli ( Giovanni Battista Barbirolli; 2 December 189929 July 1970) was a British conductor and cellist. He is remembered above all as conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, which he helped save from dissolution in 1943 ...

. In 1958 he was appointed director of music at Scotch College, where he was responsible for greatly expanding both the professional music staff as well as the proportion of boys studying an instrument. The school orchestra reached a standard that was considered close to professional. He led the orchestra on tours of South-East Asia and New Zealand. He also coached football, and led the college's 1st XVIII to a premiership in 1968. At various times, he conducted the Melbourne Youth Symphonic Band, the Astra Chamber Orchestra, the

Frankston Symphony Orchestra Frankston Symphony Orchestra (FSO) is one of ten community orchestras in Victoria, Australia. It is from the Melbourne suburb of Frankston on the Mornington Peninsula. The orchestra forms a part of the Frankston Music Society, which also include ...

and the Grainger Wind Symphony, the last of which he founded as music director in 1986. He also founded the Astra Choir in 1958. He conducted on a number of LP recordings of music by Australian composers, including a recording of orchestral music with solo parts for

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

, played by Peter Clinch. One of the Australian pianist

Geoffrey Tozer Geoffrey Peter Bede Hawkshaw Tozer (5 November 1954 – 21 August 2009) was an Australian classical pianist and composer. A child prodigy, he composed an opera at the age of eight and became the youngest recipient of a Churchill Fellowship award ...

's earliest public performances was in 1964, when aged about 10, with the Astra Chamber Orchestra under Logie-Smith's direction. For some years, he was also the Victorian Universities Schools Examination Board's Chief Examiner of HSC Music A.

Honours

In 1955 he was appointed a Member of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE), and this was upgraded to Officer (OBE) status in 1971.It's an Honour: OBE
/ref> His name is perpetuated in the Logie-Smith Auditorium at Geelong College, the George Logie-Smith Foundation at Scotch College, and a music room at Genazzano FCJ College, where he also taught.

Personal life

He married Enid Buchanan in 1941. She died in 2002. They were survived by three sons, seven grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

References

External links

* *http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sctfif/ffqrs2.html *Jim Mitchell (2001): A Deepening Roar: A History of Scotch College. Allen & Unwin. *Ian Harrison, Obituary, ''The Age'', 6 July 2007. http://newsstore.smh.com.au/apps/viewDocument.ac?page=1&sy=smh&kw=George+Logie-smith&pb=age&dt=selectRange&dr=10years&so=relevance&sf=text&sf=headline&rc=10&rm=200&sp=nrm&clsPage=1&docID=AGE070706PA6C23D6MA4 {{DEFAULTSORT:Logie-Smith, George 1914 births 2007 deaths Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire Musicians from Melbourne 20th-century Australian conductors (music)