BBC News Online: World: Europe

Xenakis, modern composer, dies

The leading contemporary music composer, Yannis Xenakis, has died in France at the age of seventy-eight.

Xenakis, born in Romania into a family of Greek origin, invented a new music style using computers.

He was also a reputed mathematician and architect.

Xenakis moved to Paris in 1947 because of his political beliefs after fighting with the Greek resistance during the second world war.

The French president, Jacques Chirac, said the country had lost one of its most brilliant artists.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service