British renowned composer and conductor Oliver Knussen has died. The influential GRAMMY nominee worked with many great orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and most recently the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.
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Knussen's death was announced by his publisher, Faber Music, on July 9. The publisher did not release a cause of death, but the BBC reports that the composer died "after a short illness."
"Knussen was one of the world’s most eminent and influential composer-conductors and leaves behind him a body of work of crystalline concision, complexity and richness," Faber Music said on their website. "His impact on the musical community – both in the U.K. and around the world – was extraordinary, and is a testament to his great generosity and curiosity as a musician, as well as his unfailing love and deep knowledge of the art form."
Born in Glasgow in 1952, Knussen was just 15 years old when he wrote his first symphony. The composer worked with the late children's author Maurice Sendak in the '80s to create an operatic adaptation of "Where The Wild Things Are," one of his most famous works. A year after creating the opera, Knussen once again collaborated with Sendak on an operatic adaptation for another of his books, "Higglety Pigglety Pop!"
Knussen was also the music director of the London Sinfonietta, artistic director of the Aldeburgh Festival, and artist in association with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, among other roles. He was nominated for a GRAMMY five times during his career and won many other awards, including the 2015 Queen's Medal for music and the Ivor Novello Award for Classical Music.
