About Richard Connolly (composer)
Richard Connolly (10 November 1927 – 4 May 2022) was an Australian musician, composer and former broadcaster. A well travelled man, who had studied broadcasters and broadcasting in numerous countries including France, Italy and German under the Churchill Fellowship program. He had a long association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, as a writer/composer for radio and television programs, but also wrote for documentaries and films. It was whilst working with the education department of the ABC, that he composed the theme song to the children's TV series Play School, in which he also sang the lyrics penned by Dr. Rosemary Milne. In 2017 the tune was added to the National Film and Sound Archive in the list of the top 10 Sounds of Australia for "being culturally, historically and aesthetically significant". Connolly's published and performed works allowed him to be counted among Australia's most prolific composers of Catholic Church music, particularly the hymns he composed for the church in Australia which are now published and used inter-denominationally. His hymns were composed to accommodate and adorn the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council. He was noted for his collaborations with Australian poet James McAuley. His compositions were successful internationally, both in the Christian and secular fields. Their compositions were first released in a collection titled Hymns for the Year of Grace in 1963. Connolly composed music for the first Australian visit of a pope, Pope Paul VI, at both Randwick Racecourse and St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney. In December 2009, he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Arts by the University of Notre Dame Australia in recognition of his "extraordinary contributions to Catholic liturgical music in Australia".
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.