John Maxwell Geddes

John Maxwell Geddes (26 May 1941 – 7 September 2017)

He taught at schools in Glasgow, and from 1986 he worked at the Academy. He lectured at many American universities and European academies, and was composer-in-residence in Hamburg, Berlin and Bremen. He was associated with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra for more than 50 years.

Geddes was a strong supporter of musical education. His work Postlude for Strings was a protest against Argyll and Bute Council's closure in 2009 of Castle Toward, where he was composer-in-residence; the building was used by youth orchestras including Glasgow Schools Symphony Orchestra, which Geddes conducted. In Postlude for Strings, the players in the orchestra leave the stage one by one (as in Haydn's Farewell Symphony).

Awards included the PRS Composer in Education Award in 1991, Fellow of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music in 2002, and in 2007 the Creative Scotland Award.

On 25 June 2018 Geddes received a posthumous honorary doctorate from the University of Glasgow.

Compositions Works include three symphonies and other orchestral music, chambers works, arrangements of folk songs, transcriptions of Renaissance music, and film music.