Jenny McLeod

Jennifer Helen McLeod (12 November 1941 – 28 November 2022) was a New Zealand composer and professor of music at Victoria University of Wellington. She composed several major works for big groups including Under the Sun for four orchestras and 450 children, and the opera Hōhepa. McLeod was born in Wellington on 12 November 1941, the daughter of Lorna Bell McLeod (née Perrin) and Ronald D'Arcy McLeod, and grew up in Timaru and Levin. She was musical as a child and could read music at age five. In 1961, McLeod began studying music at Victoria University of Wellington, where her teachers included Frederick Page, David Farquhar and Douglas Lilburn, and graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree in 1964.In 1964 a New Zealand government bursary enabled her to study for two years in Europe with Messiaen, Stockhausen and Berio. In 1967 she became a lecturer in music at Victoria University. She was appointed at a young age to Professor in 1971, a position she held until 1976. During her professorship, she was influenced by Guru Maharaji's Divine Light Mission, which led to her early retirement.In the 1997 Queen's Birthday Honours, McLeod was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to music.McLeod is best known for two major works, Earth and Sky and Under the Sun for large forces. She also composed many songs and hymns. She was a great admirer of, and was greatly influenced by, the music of Messiaen. Her Seven Tone Clock Pieces were first performed by the New Zealand pianist Jeffrey Grice.Before her death in Palmerston North on 28 November 2022, at the age of 81, McLeod lived in Pukerua Bay, working on music theory, especially the relationships between notes and scales.