Late in 2013, the musical world was gearing up to celebrate the 70th birthday of British composer John Tavener, but sadly he died in November of that year, so his 70th birthday, which fell on today’s date in 2014, became a memorial tribute instead.

Tavener had suffered from ill health throughout his life, including a stroke in his thirties, heart surgery and the removal of a tumor in his forties, and two subsequent heart attacks.

In his early twenties, Tavener became famous in 1968 with his avant-garde cantata entitled "The Whale," based loosely on the Old Testament story of Jonah, a work that caught the attention of one of The Beatles, and so an LP recording of the work was made and released on The Beatles' own Apple label.

Tavener converted to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1977, and his music became increasingly spiritual in nature. Millions who watched TV coverage of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997, were deeply moved by his "Song for Athene," which was performed to telling effect as Diana's casket left Westminster Abbey. Taverner was knighted in 2000, becoming Sir John Tavener.

This music, from his "Ikon of Eros" was commissioned by the Minnesota Orchestra and violinist Jorja Fleezanis on the occasion of the Orchestra's Centennial, and premiered in November of 2003 at St. Paul's Cathedral—the one in St. Paul, Minnesota, that is, not the one in London—and Tavener came to Minnesota for the event.