The Estonian composer, best known for his folk-inflected choral works, has died at 86 of long-term illnesses.

The Estonian composer Veljo Tormis has died at the age of 86. Best known for his folk-inflected choral works, he is considered one of the most important Estonian composers of the 20th century.

Born in Kuusalu, Estonia, in 1930, Tormis began his music studies at the Tallinn Music School in 1942 before his education was interrupted by the Second World War and illness. He studied with organ with Edgar Arro at the Tallin Conservatory, but switched to composition with Villem Kapp when Soviet authorities cancelled the organ class on ideological grounds. Tormis went on to study at the Moscow Conservatory where his teachers included Vissarion Shebalin – a friend of Shostakovich – and Yury Fortunatov.

Throughout the 1950s and ’60s, Tormis taught at music schools and from 1955–74 was a consultant at the Estonian Union of Composers. By the late ’60s he was a celebrated composer and was able to support himself through the purchase of his manuscripts by the Ministry of Culture and through composition prizes. His works were performed throughout the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe – though during the late...