Cancer claims important Brazilian composer, 47

Sergio Roberto de Oliveira faced up to his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer by keeping a video diary of his progress through music and life.

Tragically, his struggle ended today.

Tom Moore writes:

My dear friend Sergio Roberto de Oliveira, whom I met almost twenty years ago, after battling pancreatic cancer for a year and a half, has left us here below to go to the World-That-Is-Coming. He suffered so much during these last months, but with a nobility that shows all of us how to live life to the very fullest, to drink the cup to the very last drop, creating his first opera at the very end, which ends not with sadness, but with transcendence, and a conclusion that is not a closed door, but a hand beckoning us upwards and onwards. Sergio showed me how to be the best man that I can be. He will be remembered as one of the greatest of Brazilian composers, someone who not only created his own lasting oeuvre, but was fundamental to contemporary music in Rio in the 21st century.