John Maxwell Geddes, who died in September 2017, will be remembered as one of Scotland’s most prolific composers.

His works have been performed by leading musicians such as Lady Barbirolli, James Loughran, Christopher Seaman, Bryden Thomson, Karl Anton Rickenbacher, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Alla Vasilyeva , Susan Kessler, Roger Vignoles, Yoram David, Malcolm Martineau, Andrew Manze, Sian Edwards , James Lowe, Douglas Boyd, Jonathan Small, Holly Mathieson, John Kenny, Christoph Müller, Christopher Austin, Martyn Brabbins, John Wallace, Semyon Kogan and many more.

Geddes studied at the RSAMD with Gordon Cameron and Frank Spedding and with Niels Viggo Bentzon in Copenhagen.

He has written three symphonies, many orchestral and chamber pieces, choral works, folk song settings and film scores. These have been performed at prestigious events such as Berlin Sommerfest, Sholokov, Prokofiev and Xenakis festivals, Warsaw Autumn, BBC London Proms, Minneapolis, St. Petersburg, St.Magnus, Don Spring and Edinburgh International Festivals and others throughout the world.

Geddes has lectured on his work in many American Universities (including Berkley and Stanford, Oregon State, Newport News) and many UK, European and Russian institutions (Rachmaninoff Conservatoire, Meistersinger konservatorium Nuremberg and Hochschule in Stuttgart and Freiburg, Conservatoire de Paris . He has been composer in residence in Hamburg and Berlin (World Brass) and Bremen (Internationales Jugend Symfoniorchester).

He has been the recipient of many commissions and awards, and has received over 20 Scottish Arts Council Awards and Creative Scotland, British Council, Central Bureau for Educational Visits and various other trusts, councils and corporations. His association with BBC SSO is a long and distinguished one spanning 50 years. BBC commissions include Symphony 1 (1975) Voyager (1985) Alley Cat (2004) An Ayrshire Suite (2012).