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Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,Sir Harrison Birtwistle's works attracted international conductors including Daniel Barenboim and Sir Simon Rattle
Acclaimed composer Sir Harrison Birtwistle has died at the age of 87, his publisher has confirmed.
He is perhaps best known for 1971 orchestral work The Triumph of Time, as well as operas The Mask Of Orpheus, Gawain and The Minotaur.
Publishers Boosey & Hawkes and agency Rayfield Allied announced with "deep sadness" that he died at his home in Mere, Wiltshire on 18 April.
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,John Tomlinson played the Minotaur in the Royal Opera House's 2008 production of the opera
HIs music has featured in major festivals and concert series in Europe, the US and Japan, attracting international conductors including Daniel Barenboim and Sir Simon Rattle.
The Royal Philharmonic added he had won five of its awards, and said: "His music shook the earth. There was force and potency in every note he wrote. We will listen in awe to his works for decades to come."
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London Symphony Orchestra said: "Sad news to hear today that one of the greatest British composers, Harrison Birtwistle, has died."
Actor Samuel West also paid tribute.
I grew up being taken to Proms in the 80s where Harrison Birtwistle was often on the program.
His music disturbed and fascinated me. It spoke of deep, old things - a song of the earth I didn’t fully understand as a teenager. But I enjoyed trying. I’ll always be grateful for that
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Sir Harrison, born in Accrington, Lancashire in 1934, studied composition and the clarinet at the Royal Manchester College of Music, where he met contemporaries including Peter Maxwell Davies, Alexander Goehr, John Ogdon and Elgar Howarth.
After selling his clarinets in 1960, he took a scholarship at Princeton University in the US, where he focused on composition and wrote the opera Punch And Judy. This work, along with Verses For Ensembles and The Triumph Of Time, established Sir Harrison as a leading light in British music.
By 1975 he was musical director of the Royal National Theatre in London, where he stayed until 1983.
In 1988 he was knighted and he was made Companion of Honour in 2001.
Sir Harrison's wife Sheila Duff died in 2012 and he is survived by his three sons and six grandchildren.
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