It has been announced that composer and conductor Colin Touchin has passed away in his home in Warsaw due to pancreatic cancer.

Born in 1953, Touchin was a graduate of Keble College in Oxford before going on to teach at Chetham’s School of Music for eight years, then serving as Director of Music at the University of Warwick over the next decade.

Other positions include Chief Conductor of the Lufthansa Orchestra in Frankfurt, which was comprised of pilots, flight attendants and technicians, as well as Music Director of the Hong Kong Welsh Male Voice Choir, female a capella choir Grace Notes, and guest conductor of the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong.

In 2005, Touchin founded the Spires Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus in Coventry, made up of professional and amateur musicians from the areas around Coventry and Warwickshire, and was also the founder of the National Youth Recorder Orchestra.

He was composer-in-residence at institutions such as Warwick School and King Henry VIII School, Coventry, and led workshops for students and teachers in 20 countries.