A report Tuesday (7/5) on the CBC News website (Canada) states, “Celebrated Canadian composer Malcolm Forsyth, whose orchestral, choral and chamber music creations have been performed around the globe, has died at the age of 74. The award-winning, Edmonton-based musician died Tuesday morning. He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in October. A prolific, popular composer, Forsyth’s music has been widely performed nationally and internationally, having received commissions from the CBC, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Canadian Brass, the Natal Philharmonic, artists such as Maureen Forrester and Judith Forst and the symphony orchestras of Montreal, Cape Town and Edmonton—where he spent 11 years playing trombone. … One of his best-known works was written for his daughter [Amanda]: the award-winning Electra Rising: Concerto for Violoncello and Chamber Orchestra. She debuted the work with the Calgary Philharmonic and its subsequent recording by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra led to a Juno Award win in 1998. … When he was diagnosed with cancer last fall, doctors initially gave Forsyth just a few months to live. Still, he managed to complete his final opus—titled A Ballad of Canada—and attend its mid-June premiere in Ottawa, where it was performed by the National Arts Centre Orchestra accompanied by a 160-voice choir.”
Posted July 6, 2011
