John Beckwith Death, Obituary – John Beckwith, a famous Canadian composer whose career lasted seven decades, passed away on December 5 in Toronto at the age of 95. His career spanned from the 1940s until the 2010s. His professional life had been full for the preceding seven decades combined. The body of work that Beckwith produced lasted seven decades, and it was this work that brought him fame. According to his son, Larry Beckwith, the problems that surfaced as a consequence of a recent fall were the direct reason of his father’s passing away. This information was provided by Larry Beckwith.
John Beckwith had a productive career that spanned many years and resulted in the publication of over 160 unique pieces of literary work. These works include a total of four operas, twelve compositions that were composed expressly for orchestra, in addition to a considerable number of chamber, choral, and vocal works. In addition to this, throughout his time, Beckwith was widely respected as an educator. His time spent instructing students at the University of Toronto spanned a total of 38 years, during which he also served as the dean of the college of music from 1970 to 1977.
His tenure at the University of Toronto began in the year 1950. In addition to this, he was a member of the Order of Ontario during this time period. In addition to this, he established the Institute for Canadian Music at the University of Toronto and served as its first director. This post was developed specifically for him to fill. Counting Alice Ping-Yee Ho, John Burge, James Rolfe, Omar Daniel, and Bruce Mather among his former pupils, James Rolfe, Omar Daniel, and Bruce Mather are among the most well-known living composers in Canada. Just to name a few examples: