The death has been announced of the composer Bryan Kelly, aged 92.

Born in Oxford, he was a boy chorister at Worcester College and later studied at the Royal College of Music under Herbert Howells and Gordon Jacob.

A gifted pianist and composer he gave the premiere of his own 'Piano Sonata' at Wigmore Hall in 1956 before going on to study with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. He later worked in Oxford, taught in schools and at the Royal College of Music, and famously lodged with poet W.H Auden.

Admired across the musical world, he conducted the UN Choir in Rome and coached at Cairo Opera. In later years he lived in Umbria in Italy with his partner, the artist John Newbury, who predeceased him in 2025.

Major works

His major works included an acclaimed 'Stabat Mater' in 1970 — although Herbert Howells once said that such was his use of syncopation that the church, "will have to be re-consecrated".

Highly respected for his compositional craftsmanship and joy of life, he also wrote a number of works for the brass band medium.

Brass band works

These included 'Divertimento' (1969) which was used at the 1972 Second Section National Championship of Great Britain, and again in the Fourth in 1986, as well as 'Andalucia', which was performed at the 1976 National Youth Brass Band Championships at the Royal Albert Hall.

Other popular works included 'Edinburgh Dances', 'Concertante Music (1980 Third Section National Championship of Great Britain), 'Partita' (1987 Third Section National Championships of Great Britain), 'Primavera' and 'Overture Provance'.