  right|thumb|upright|nicholas maw john nicholas maw (5 november 1935 &ndash; 19 may 2009) was a british composer. ==biography== born in grantham, lincolnshire, maw was the son of clarence frederick maw and hilda ellen chambers. he attended the wennington school, a boarding school, in wetherby in the west riding of yorkshire. his mother died of tuberculosis when he was 14. he attended the royal academy of music on marylebone road in london where his teachers were paul steinitz and lennox berkeley. he then studied in paris with nadia boulanger and max deutsch. from 1998 until 2008, maw served on the faculty of the peabody institute at johns hopkins university, where he taught music composition. he had previously served on the faculties of yale university, bard college, boston university, the royal academy of music, cambridge university, and exeter university. ===personal life=== in 1960, maw married karen graham, and they had a son and a daughter. their marriage was dissolved in 1976. he took up residence in washington, dc in 1984, living there with his companion maija hay, a ceramic artist, until his death in 2009. he died at home on 19 may 2009, at age 73, as a result of heart failure with complications from diabetes. on sunday 6 november 2011, bbc radio 3 broadcast a 2-hour tribute called, "nicholas maw: a celebration". the program featured performances of maw's violin concerto, an orchestral suite drawn from his opera, sophie's choice, and two choral works (one foot in eden still, i stand and hymnus). ==compositions== maw is best known for the orchestral pieces odyssey (1987) and the world in the evening (1988), the guitar work music of memory (1989) and a violin concerto (1993) written for joshua bell. his music has been described as neo-romantic but also as modernist and non-tonal (for instance personÃ¦, his cycle of piano pieces). in 2002 an opera, sophie's c
1935_births 2009_deaths 20th-century_classical_composers 21st-century_classical_composers Academics_of_the_Royal_Academy_of_Music Academics_of_the_University_of_Cambridge Academics_of_the_University_of_Exeter Alumni_of_the_Royal_Academy_of_Music Bard_College_faculty Boston_University_faculty Deaths_from_heart_failure Disease-related_deaths_in_Washington,_D.C. English_classical_composers English_emigrants_to_the_United_States Johns_Hopkins_University_faculty Peabody_Institute_faculty People_from_Grantham People_from_Washington,_D.C. Pupils_of_Nadia_Boulanger Yale_University_faculty