Summary
Colin Michael Touchin (3 April 1953 – 30 September 2022)[1] was a British conductor, composer and music educator. His compositions include two oratorios, four orchestral sinfoniettas, and works for wind band and choral groups.[2]
Biography edit
Colin Touchin was educated at William Hulme's Grammar School and Keble College, Oxford.[3]
Touchin taught for eight years at Chetham's School of Music, and for two years was Head of Composition. For over a decade he was Director of Music at the University of Warwick.[4] While in the UK he played in a piano duo with his friend Peter Donohoe.[5] In 2005 he founded and conducted the Spires Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus in Coventry, made up of professional and skilled amateur musicians from the Coventry and Warwickshire area.[6] Spires recorded a CD of his compositions in 2012.[7]
In Frankfurt he was Chief Conductor of the Lufthansa Orchestra, an ensemble made up of pilots, flight attendants, technicians and office workers who make music in their spare time.[8][9] In Hong Kong he was Musical Director of the Hong Kong Welsh Male Voice Choir, the a capella female choir Grace Notes, and guest conductor of the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong and Tak-Ming Philharmonic Winds.[1]
His home was in Warsaw, where he died of pancreatic cancer.[10]
Selected works edit
- A Beade of Amber (for the National Youth Wind Orchestra of Wales)
- Brief Intervals for saxophone quartet
- Choose the Light, oratorio (2012)[7]
- Coventry Suite for orchestra[7]
- Hilarion, oratorio for baritone, choir and orchestra (1987)
- Idyllwild Suite for wind band
- Impressions of Don Giovanni, chamber ensemble (1991)
- in memoriam Cathy, chamber ensemble
- Lambs & Tygers for chorus and orchestra
- Little Red Riding Hood, ballet for youth orchestra
- Saint George of Coventry, chorus and orchestra[7]
- Sinfonietta No 2 for orchestra (1982)
- Sinfonietta No.4 for orchestra (2021)
- Sonatella for piano (1990)[5]
- Three Suffolk Pictures for wind band
- Yon twelve-winded sky for string quartet (1991)[11][12]
References edit
- ^ a b "Allensbank Music: Colin Touchin". Retrieved 2 October 2022.
- ^ "Biography, musicroom.hk" (PDF).
- ^ "Colin Touchin, Warwick Music". Archived from the original on 16 December 2009. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
- ^ "Heart of England Recorder Orchestra, 'History'". Retrieved 2 October 2022.
- ^ a b Barnett, Rob. "Then Again: British Piano Music of the 80s and 90s". Classical Music on the Web. Retrieved 14 June 2008.
- ^ "Spires Music website". Retrieved 5 October 2022.
- ^ a b c d "'New music CD celebrates Coventry's history and legends'". Coventry News. 28 August 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
- ^ "Highnotes, Issue 38, Autumn, 2018". September 2018. p. 11. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
- ^ "Der Dirigent". Retrieved 2 October 2022.
- ^ "British composer, 69, dies in Warsaw". Slipped Disc. 2 October 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
- ^ "Music Listings". The Musical Times (1787). January 1992. JSTOR 965800. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
- ^ "Bromsgrove Concerts, commissions". andymdix.dx.am. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
External links edit
- Sinfonietta No. 4, City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, cond. Colin Touchin
- Warwick Music Composers
- Colin Touchin discography at Discogs