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]
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]