Sir Harrison Birtwistle, a British composer of contemporary classical music, has died at age 87. No cause of death was given.
Birtwistle died on Monday, April 18, 2022, at his home in Mere, southwest England.
Birtwistle’s compositions, which ranged from chamber pieces to large-scale opera, were given prominent performances in venues including the Royal Opera House, the English National Opera, the Deutsche Staatsoper in Berlin, the BBC Proms in London and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Among his many compositions, Birtwistle is best known for The Triumph of Time and his operas, particularly The Mask of Orpheus, Gawain, and The Minotaur.
His unapologetically challenging work sometimes tried the patience of listeners, but the composer was unperturbed.
“The question of accessibility,” Birtwistle once said, “is not my problem.”
“I have an idea. I express it as clearly as I can. Criticism is someone else’s problem,” he added.
Martyn Brabbins, music director of the English National Opera, said Birtwistle “was a much-loved collaborator and mentor whose work has inspired generations of musicians.”
The Royal Philharmonic Society said on Twitter that he was “a true musical colossus” whose music “shook the earth.”
Short on conventional harmony and heavy on complex rhythms, Birtwistle’s music was often described as having an abrasive quality. In 1995, his piece “Panic” had a high-profile premiere on live television as part of the hugely popular “Last Night of the Proms” concert.
The BBC was inundated with complaints. “Was somebody strangling a cat?” one viewer asked.
It wasn’t only ordinary musical audiences who winced at his work. Benjamin Britten, among Britain’s greatest 20th-century composers, reportedly left at the intermission of the 1968 premiere of Birtwistle’s chamber opera “Punch and Judy” at Britten’s own Aldeburgh Festival.
Birtwistle’s wife Sheila died in 2012. He is survived by their three sons.