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Academy Award-winning composer André Previn dies at 89

By Daniel Uria
Composer André Previn died at the age of 89 after a brief bout of illness on Thursday. File Photo courtesy Steve Bowbrick/Flickr
Composer André Previn died at the age of 89 after a brief bout of illness on Thursday. File Photo courtesy Steve Bowbrick/Flickr

Feb. 28 (UPI) -- The Academy Award winning composer of "Porgy & Bess" and "My Fair Lady" André Previn died at the age of 89 on Thursday, his representatives announced.

Previn's management company, IMG Artists, confirmed the news in an in memoriam post detailing his career achievements.

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"We send our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of André Previn. He is a true immortal and will continue to inspire and be loved for generations to come. Rest in Peace," IMG Artists said.

Previn's manager, Linda Petrikova, told CNN that he died in his Manhattan home after a brief bout of illness.

Previn was born in Berlin in 1929 before his family moved to the United States, where he was raised in Los Angeles.

He became the music director for the Houston Symphony Orchestra in 1967 and a year later earned the role of principal conductor for the London Symphony Orchestra.

Throughout his career, Previn also held chief artistic positions with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and in 2009 he was appointed principal guest conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra.

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"We in the Emerson String Quartet have very fond memories of working together with the great and enormously versatile musician André Previn," Eugene Drucker of the Emerson String Quartet said. "His Mozart was transparent, crystalline and brilliant; his Brahms was darker-hued and powerful, but never overpowering in comparison to the strings. Rehearsing with him was a joy on both musical and personal levels."

Previn composed scores for a number of films, earning four Oscars, 10 Grammy Awards and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He was also named honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II, among other accolades.

He was married five times and his third wife, actress Mia Farrow, with whom he had six children, remembered Previn on Twitter Thursday.

"See you in the Morning beloved Friend. May you rest in glorious symphonies,"she wrote.

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