Influential Austrian composer Gy?rgy Ligeti, known for his contributions to several Stanley Kubrick films, has died at age 83. He passed away Monday in Vienna, Austria, according to the BBC.

Ligeti was born in Romania in 1923, but later took Austrian citizenship. He first began studying music in Romania in 1941, and continued in Budapest. In 1943, he arrested as a Jew under the Nazi regime and sent to a labour camp. Ligeti survived, but several members of his family ? including his brother and father ? did not.

He returned to Romania at the end of the war and began teaching music at the Liszt Academy.

Ligeti’s boundary-pushing musical ambitions were constrained by the communist government in Hungary. After the 1956 uprising, Ligeti fled to Vienna and began creating the avant garde work he is best known for.

Excerpts from his pieces “Atmospheres” and “Lux Aeterna” were used by Stanley Kubrick in his 1968 film “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Ligeti’s compositions were also used by Kubrick in 1980’s “The Shining” and 1999’s “Eyes Wide Shut.”

Ligeti is survived by his wife, Vera, and son, Lukas.






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