Queensland Conservatorium of Music, Diploma in Music
At St Margaret’s 1946 - 1947
World renowned composer, pianist and music educator Betty Beath enrolled at St Margaret’s at age thirteen to study music under the tutelage of fine pianist Miss Nora Baird. It was through her St Margaret’s education that Betty was introduced to the piano concerto repertoire and afforded the opportunity to perform with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.
By the time she was 17, Betty had won many eisteddfod competitions and had twice been a finalist in the ABC Concerto and Vocal Competitions. She was awarded a Queensland University Music Scholarship which led her to the Sydney Conservatorium. Later, she graduated from the Queensland Conservatorium specialising in piano and voice.
Betty was the Head of Music at St Margaret’s for 30 years, a position she said she ‘loved’. A highlight of this time was commissioning prestigious composers to write new works for the school as well as pioneering the establishment of the annual Festivals of Australian Music. Betty and her husband, David Cox, collaborated in writing several music dramas to be performed in school concerts. These works were later published and some went on to have another life, such as The Strange Adventures of Marco Polo, toured by the Queensland Opera Company, Abigail and the Bushranger, performed at the Sydney Opera House, Abigail and the Rainmaker at The Kennedy Centre in Washington DC, and Francis at St John’s Cathedral.
Betty also lectured composition and musicianship at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music.
As a musician and composer, Betty has produced much work in orchestral, chamber and instrumental music, art, song and music drama and her works have been broadcast and performed all over the world, including in Australia, USA, the United Kingdom, Europe, Mexico, Japan and Indonesia.
In 1984, Betty represented women composers of Australia at the 3rd International Congress on Women in Music in Mexico City.
A passionate advocate for the advancement of both Australian music and women composers, Betty spent several years on the Executive Board of the International League of Women Composers and as Adviser in Music to the National Council of Women in Queensland.
Since 1999, St Margaret’s has awarded the Betty Beath Music Speech Night Prize to the top music student each year.
According to Betty: “It was my experience of teaching at St Margaret’s that led me into a career as a serious composer, which I follow till this day.”
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