Winnipeg composer Robert Turner dead at 91

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This article was published 27/01/2012 (5013 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg based composer of more than 70 compositions has died.

Robert Turner, a professor emeritus at the University of Manitoba’s faculty of music, died on Thursday night. He was 91.

Turner was born in Montreal in 1920, and studied piano at an early age, according to the University of Manitoba’s website.

Turner received his bachelor of music at McGill University and studied music composition at the Royal College of Music in London, England, as well as Vanderbilt University’s George Peabody College.

Turner’s first major composition, String Quartet No. 1, written in 1949, was premiered by Aaron Copland and was acclaimed by both Copland and Leonard Bernstein. He later composed operas, concertos, symphonies and string quartets.

Turner became a professor at the U of M in 1968, and helped teach several future homposers including Glenn Buhr. He retired from teaching in 1985.

To help celebrate Turner’s 70th birthday in 1990, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra performed five of his major works.

Turner was named to the Order of Canada in 2003.