Conductor Cliff Colnot has died at the age of 76 after a long illness.

The orchestra announced the news, noting that he had passed on Feb. 12, 2024 in Chicago.

Throughout his career with the CSO, he served in numerous capacities, most notably as a conductor of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and the MusicNOW series for more than 20 years.

Born on Oct. 7, 1947, in Youngstown, Ohio, Colnot graduated with honors from Florida State University, and in 1995, he received the Ernst von Dohnányi Certificate of Excellence.

He went on to receive the Alumni Merit Award from Northwestern University, where he earned his doctorate.

Colnot served as assistant conductor for Daniel Barenboim’s West-Eastern Divan workshops for young musicians from Israel, Egypt, Syria and other Middle Eastern countries and he worked extensively with former principal guest conductor and conductor emeritus Pierre Boulez, serving as assistant conductor at the Lucerne Festival Academy.

Colnot went on to study with jazz teacher David Bloom and taught jazz arranging at DePaul University, film scoring at Columbia College, and advanced orchestration at the University of Chicago. He was also a member of the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra, Music of the Baroque and the Contemporary Chamber Players as a bassoonist.

Colnot was also a frequent conductor of the International Contemporary Ensemble, Contempo at the University of Chicago and the DePaul University Symphony Orchestra and Wind Ensemble. He also appeared with the San Antonio Philharmonic, the American Composers Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Utah Symphony, and the Chicago Philharmonic.