Canadian composer Harry Somers dies

Internationally recognized composer Harry Somers, died Tuesday night at age 73.

Somers was one of Canada's most important composers of classical music but he was perhaps better known outside Canada.

His operas Louis Riel and Mario and the Magician received international acclaim. His music has been performed all over Europe and the Americas as well as Russia.

Somers was a gifted pianist who later turned to full-time composing. His works even showed up in film and television including a score for a 1964 TV production on the life and work of Pablo Picasso.

Somers won a Juno Award in 1997 for another work on Picasso. His recording Picasso Suite won for Best Classical Composition.

Somers became interested in music when he was 19. In a 1995 interview, he told CBC's Shelagh Rogers it was an accident.

He said he met his wife, an accomplished pianist, who played some classical pieces on the piano and he was hooked. "It was like a thunderbolt," he said.

Somers died in Toronto of prostate cancer.