Geoffrey Coker

Lecturer/Coordinator of Classical Theory

BMus Well, MA Camb, LTCL, LMusTCL

Geoffrey Coker teaches aural and keyboard skills as well as harmony and counterpoint. His teaching interests are in the acquisition of notational, aural and sight-reading skills, and their application to performance and composition. Together with Michael Norris, he has worked on the development of Ear Conditioner, an aural and keyboard computer program.

Although he graduated in Organ Performance at Victoria University, Geoffrey is probably best known to New Zealanders as a singer. He was awarded a Choral Scholarship to King’s College, Cambridge in 1971 and, after singing in the choir under both Sir David Willcocks and Sir Philip Ledger, and studying Singing and Composition with Paul Esswood and Alan Ridout, respectively, he returned as one of the first counter-tenors to focus his career in New Zealand and Australia. He has recorded, broadcast, and performed with première choirs and orchestras throughout both countries.

He was part of the generation who pioneered historically informed performance in New Zealand, appearing regularly with Anthony Jennings, Robert and Andrea Oliver, Greer Garden and Peter Walls, among others.

Contemporary music for counter-tenor has always been of interest to Geoffrey, and he has had works written for him by David Griffiths and English composer Alan Ridout. He has sung in première seasons of operas by David Farquhar and Dr Douglas Mews, and is a past president of the New Zealand Association of Teachers of Singing.

In addition, Geoffrey has been very involved in both church and choral music, as an organist and conductor. In recent times, he has drawn on his varied experience to lead choral workshops throughout New Zealand on technique and sight-reading for choristers; he conducts workshops on the teaching of aural and sight-reading skills, and adjudicates for competition societies.

As well as his work at the New Zealand School of Music, Geoffrey is an examiner for the Trinity Guildhall international music examinations board, and assisted in the development of the present Singing syllabus, which includes fifteen works by New Zealand composers.

Present research projects include The Effects of the Introduction of Girl Choristers into Traditional English Cathedral Choirs and Musical Activity on the Island of Guernsey during the German Occupation 1940–1945.

Contact details:
phone: +64 4 463 5883
room: 208, Kelburn Campus
email: geoffrey.coker@nzsm.ac.nz

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