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Dorothy Ker was born in New Zealand in 1965. She studied composition and electronic music at Auckland University with John Rimmer. In 1992 Ker immigrated to the UK, to study composition with Nicola LeFanu at King's College London and the University of York, graduating with a doctorate in 1998. She also studied with Harrison Birtwistle and attended a Music Theatre summer school with Birtwistle in 1995. Many of Ker's aesthetic preoccupations have been reinforced and developed through her contact with Birtwistle who she counts as her most important influence. In 1994 she studied at Dartington International Summer School with Milton Babbitt. From 1996-2000 she taught composition part-time at Reading University and from 2001-2004 she held a 3-year AHRB Creative Arts Fellowship there. In 2005 she was appointed Research Fellow at The University of Sheffield until 2010. Ker's music is performed and broadcast in both hemispheres and has been heard at international festivals in Auckland, Belfast, Huddersfield, Perth, Taipei and Seoul, in London and on BBC Radio 3. Her highly-acclaimed work 'The Structure of Memory' was recorded by Lontano on the Lorelt label (LNT126) in 2003 and was performed at the ISCM World New Music Days 2004 in Switzerland. In 2000 she received a Year of the Artist award for her project 'Music for Quiet Spaces', composed for the violinist Mieko Kanno.
Ker's main area of practice is acoustic composition for a diverse range of instrumental and vocal ensembles. Space and timbre are central concerns in her work, as exemplified by her recent series of compositions with the generic title 'diffracted terrains' (see works list). Her research at Sheffield University focuses on developing new strategies for music theatre through collaborative, cross-disciplinary projects including with visual art, dance and mathematics.
Dorothy Ker was born in New Zealand in 1965. She studied with John Rimmer at Auckland University, emigrating to the UK in 1992, where she studied with Nicola Lefanu and Harrison Birtwistle. From 2001-2004 she held an AHRB Creative Arts Fellowship at Reading University. In 2000 she received a Year of the Artist award for 'Music for Quiet Spaces', composed for violinist Mieko Kanno.
Ker's music is performed and broadcast in both hemispheres and has been heard at international festivals in Auckland, Belfast, Huddersfield, Taipei and Seoul, in London and on BBC Radio 3. 'The Structure of Memory' was recorded by Lontano on the Lorelt label in 2003 and was performed at the ISCM World New Music Days 2004 in Switzerland. In 2005 she was appointed Research Fellow at Sheffield University. A solo CD of her chamber music has been recorded by Lontano for release in November 2007 on the Lorelt label.