Midcoast residents were saddened this week with the passing of composer John Duffy, who once lived above the Bay View Street, Camden, bookstore ABCD Books. The renowned American composer died Dec. 29 in Virginia, at age 89.

John Duffy was well known for his music — symphonic music and operas — and for founding in 1974 the organization Meet The Composer. He was considered by many to have compelled change in the way people think of, compose, play, and listen, to music. He was, admirers have said, a “true beacon for new music.”

In 2003, local Down East Singers Tom DeMarco, Tony Antolini, Glenn Jenks and Gretchen P Ogden, produced a 9/11 remembrance concert, "Interdependence Day", using music mostly composed by Duffy. 

Read his obituary and story in the New York Times, John Duffy, a Composer Who Gave His Peers a Platform, Dies at 89

Read also a personal remembrance in the New Music Box.