Raymond Warren passed away on June 4, at the age of 96.

Warren was born in Axbridge, Somerset, in 1928. He studied at Bancroft’s School and Cambridge. Later he studied privately with Michael Tippett, Lennox Berkeley, and Benjamin Britten. From 1955 to 1972 he taught at Queen’s University, Belfast, where he was the first person in the UK to be given a personal chair in composition. In 1969, Warren became the Hamilton Harty Professor of Music. He was Stanley Hugh Badock Professor of Music at the University of Bristol from 1972 until his retirement in 1994.

As Resident Composer to the Ulster Orchestra, Warren wrote a number of orchestral works and also conducted concerts of contemporary music. He collaborated with many other artists of note including the poets John Reed, Seamus Heaney, Michael Longley and Charles Tomlinson, the choreographer Helen Lewis and the founders of the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, and wrote for performers including Peter Pears, Janet Price, Jeremy Huw Williams, and David Ogden.

Warren wrote a total of six operas including, “The Lady of Ephesus” and “Let My People Go.” He composed several oratorios, cantatas, vocal and choral works, many works for children, and an extensive amount of instrumental pieces.

His publications include “Opera Workshops: Studies in Understanding and Interpretation,” ” The Composer and Opera Performance in Thomas, W. (ed.), Composition – Performance – Reception: Studies in the Creative Process in Music, Ashgate,” and “A Study of His Music. Work in preparation.”