Adolphus "Ato" Turkson

1933 - 1993

About

Adolphus "Ato" Turkson was a native of Winneba in the Central Region of Ghana. He was born at Tarkwa, and was educated at Achimota Secondary School from 1948 to 1952 and at Lisz Ference Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary, from 1963 to 1967. He obtained his M.Mus. and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Evanston, Illinois, USA in 1970 and 1972 respectively.

Ato first taught at the Ghana School, Winneba, in 1953 before joining the Department of Meteorological Services as a Department Assistant from 1953 to 1962. In October 1962, he joined the School of Music, Dance, and Drama of the University of Ghana as a Research Assistant. He was promoted a lecturer in 1972.

However, it was at Achimota that Ato cultivated and developed his music talent. Initially, his compositions were in tonal style, changing to the atonal style in 1965 after his musical training in Budapest, Hungary. Among the classical tonal works are: Serenade No. 1 for string Orchestra (1965); Trio (1965); Six Easy Pieces for Piano (1965); String Quartet (1966); Serenade No.2 for string Orchestra (1966) and Te Deum (1966).

In the year 1966, he wrote his first atonal piece, Oboe Quintet. He employed devices like dodecaphony, microtones and eleatoric. His Three pieces for Flute and Piano (1968); Three pieces for Oboe and Piano (1968); and Six Piano Pieces are dedocaphonic compositions, while Elements I and Fanti Lyric for Flute Solo, both of 1970, are microtonal compositions. His two symphonies, op. 20 and op. 21 of 1970, employ a lot of folk materials.

Related Information

African Music: Traditional and Contemporary

Works by Adolphus "Ato" Turkson