Distinguished Montreal Composer Dies

Montreal violinist and composer Otto Joachim died this summer. He was 99.

Concordia University has a composer's residency and a commission for electronic music named in his honour. He was awarded the  prestigious Prix de musique Calixa-Lavallée from La Société St-Jean-Baptiste in 1990, and in 1993 he was appointed to the order of Quebec.

Joachim fled from Germany, the land of this birth, while it was under Nazi control in the 1930's. He spent 15 years in Singapore and Shanghai before settling in Montreal in 1949.

He soon joined the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and was promoted to first violin by leader Zubin Mehta.

Joachim was a prominent teacher of music at the McGill Conservatory and at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal. He also established the Montreal String Quartet, which recorded and performed with Glenn Gould.

His own compositions were considered avant-garde. He experimented with electroacoustic instrumentation and atonal technique. His compositions have been performed by the Montreal, Toronto, Boston and Chicago symphonies.