Joaquin Nin-Culmell, 95; Writer’s Brother Taught Music at UC Berkeley
Joaquin Nin-Culmell, 95, a pianist and composer and an emeritus professor of music at UC Berkeley, died Jan. 14 at a nursing home in Berkeley of complications of a heart attack he suffered on Dec. 25.
The older brother of writer Anais Nin, Nin-Culmell contributed prefaces to her four-volume “Early Diaries.”
For the record:
12:00 a.m. Feb. 7, 2004 For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday January 29, 2004 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 41 words Type of Material: Correction
Nin-Culmell obituary -- The obituary brief in the Jan. 22 California section on music teacher and composer Joaquin Nin-Culmell misstated the name of the Spanish composer with whom he studied as Manuel de Fall. The composer’s name is Manuel de Falla.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday February 07, 2004 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 34 words Type of Material: Correction
Nin-Culmell obituary -- The obituary in the Jan. 22 California section of pianist and composer Joaquin Nin-Culmell erroneously reported that he was the older brother of writer Anais Nin. He was her younger brother.
He was born in Berlin on Sept. 5, 1908, the son of the Cuban composer Joaquin Nin and singer Rosa Culmell. He studied at the Schola Cantorum and at the Paris Conservatory, receiving a first prize for music composition there in 1934. He also studied with Manuel de Fall, one of Spain’s foremost composers.
After moving to the United States in 1939, he taught at Middlebury College in Vermont and Williams College in Massachusetts before joining the Berkeley faculty in the early 1950s. He was chairman of the music department from 1950 to 1954 and retired in 1974.
In addition to his academic duties, he conducted the university’s symphony orchestra and appeared as a pianist with numerous musical groups in the Bay Area.
As a composer, he wrote the Mass for the 1971 dedication of the Cathedral of St. Mary in San Francisco.
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