American composer and minimalist guitarist Scott Johnson, author of “John Somebody”, dies in New York. The American composer Scott Johnson (Madison, Wisconsin, 1952-New York, 2023), died last Friday, 24 March, due to complications derived from the lung cancer he had been diagnosed with two years earlier. He was somewhere between…

Russian composer Edward Artemyev, author of soundtracks for some Tarkovsky’s films, dies. Today we have known of the death of the Russian composer Edward Nikolayevich Artemyev, who passed away on 29 December. Artemyev’s central work is film music, but for what films! Artemyev composed the music for some of the…

The Austrian composer Horst Ebenhöh died on 26 December. The Viennese composer considered himself a “seeker of syntheses between old and new” and, true to this motto, wrote more than 300 works covering almost all genres: from vocal works to chamber music and sacred pieces to operas for large orchestra….

The Belgian composer Wim Henderickx died last Sunday. Belgian composer Wim Henderickx passed away unexpectedly on Sunday afternoon. This was confirmed in a press release by the Muziektheater Transparant, where Henderickx had been composer-in-residence since 1996. Henderickx was one of Belgium’s most important contemporary composers. In March he had turned…

Angelo Badalamenti, the author of David Lynch’s major film soundtracks, dies. Grammy Award-winning American composer Angelo Badalamenti died on Sunday 11 December at the age of 85. Badalamenti achieved worldwide fame with the haunting, melancholic music he composed for the television series Twin Peaks. As a regular composer for American…

Toshi Ichiyanagi, a leading figure of the Japanese musical avant-garde and Yoko Ono’s first husband, died in Tokyo on 7 October. Today I learned that the composer and pianist Toshi Ichiyanagi, who was at the forefront of post-war Japanese avant-garde music, died on 7 October in a Tokyo hospital at…

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the death of Conlon Nancarrow. Today, 10 August, marks the 25th anniversary of the death of Conlon Nancarrow (Texarkana, 1912-Mexico City, 1997), the American composer (naturalised Mexican citizen in 1956) known primarily for his compositions for pianola. Born into a wealthy family (his father…

Tenth anniversary of the death of the English free improvisation saxophonist Lol Coxhill. On 10 July 2012, a few months before his 80th birthday, the English saxophonist George Lowen Coxhil, musically known as Lol Coxhil (Portsmouth, 1932-London, 2012), passed away. Trained professionally as a bookbinder, his love of music encouraged…

Today marks the centenary of the birth of the Greek-French composer Iannis Xenakis. This Sunday marks the centenary of the birth of the Greek-born, Romanian-born, French naturalised composer Iannis Xenakis. More than twenty years after his death, the spirit of Xenakis is still alive and well, embodied through the incessant…

Greek composer Vangelis, author of the “Blade Runner” soundtrack, dies, victim of covid-19. The Greek composer and musician Vangelis – whose real name was Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou – died on Tuesday, 17 May, at the age of 79 in Paris, according to the Greek news agency ANA (Athens News Agency)….