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Classical Notes: March 29, 2011 Archive

< March 28, 2011 | Main | March 30, 2011 >

Composer Lee Hoiby, 1926-2011

Posted at 8:51 AM on March 29, 2011 by John Birge

Lee Hoiby died yesterday, age 85. He was a distinguished composer of song and opera.
Born in Madison, Wisconsin, he studied with Gian Carlo Menotti.

Perhaps his most famous work is a setting of Tennessee Williams's Summer and Smoke, premiered in 1971 by St Paul Opera in Minnesota.

More recently in Minnesota, the men's chorus Cantus gave the world premiere of Lee Hoiby's "Last Letter Home," a musical setting of a poignant last letter sent home by a soldier killed in Iraq. Click here for an interview with Hoiby, and a performance from Cantus.

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