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Jack Behrens
Canadian composer, conductor, teacher and writer Jack Behrens was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA on 25 March 1935. He studied at Juilliard, where his teachers included William Bergsma, Peter Mennin and Vincent Persichetti and at Harvard with Leon Kirchner and Roger Sessions. He also studied with John Cage, Darius Milhaud and Stefan Wolpe.
He was commissioned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada Council of the Arts, Ontario Arts Council and Orchestra London (Ontario) amongst others. His works include a four-scene chamber opera The Lay of Thrym based on an Icelandic legend and using atonality, improvisation and randomness, first performed on 13 April 1968 at Darke Hall in Regina, Saskatchewan, conducted by the composer.
He taught at Saskatchewan University in Canada (1962-66), Simon Fraser University (1966-70), California State University (1970-76) and the University of Western Ontario (1976-1986). Later he was director of academic studies at the Glenn Gould School at Toronto's Royal Conservatory.
Jack Behrens died on 9 December 2024, aged eighty-nine.