Death of leading US composer Carlisle Floyd

The publishers Boosey & Hawkes have announced the death of Carlisle Floyd, composer of the all-American opera Susannah, a biblical legend reset in Tennessee. Floyd was born in 1926 and turned 95 this summer.

Susannah was a critical and box-office hit in 1956 at New York City Opera with Phyllis Curtin and Norman Treigle, Erich Leinsdorf conducting. Two years later, Wuthering Heights was staged at Santa Fe Opera, with Curtin as the heroine. After several more operas, Of Mice and Men was seen at Seatle in 1970, again with Curtin in a leading role.

His final opera, Prince of Players, was premiered at Houston Grand Opera in 2016.

He married Kay Reader in 1957; she died after a long period of Alzheimers in 2010.