Lukas Foss, who conducted the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra from 1963 to 1970, died Sunday in his Manhattan home. He was 86.

Mr. Foss, the BPO’s fourth conductor, helped propel Buffalo into a center for avant-garde music by founding the University at Buffalo’s Creative Associates, a group of composers, conductors and musicians, and helping to organize the creatively explosive Festival of the Arts.

“For sheer innovation, controversy and outrage, there was never anyone in Buffalo music to compare with composer, pianist and conductor Lukas Foss,” wrote Buffalo News classic music critic John Dwyer in 1981.

Mr. Foss, a German emigre, also was celebrated as a composer and pianist. His musical experimentation ranged from electronic music and serialism to improvisation and minimalism.

“Before Lukas Foss came, Buffalo was one thing, and after he began conducting the orchestra, it was something else altogether, especially with what was occurring at Albright-Knox,” said News Arts Editor Jeff Simon. Source

The news comes from Hyderabad. A 28-year-old BPO employee, Kavita, committed suicide at her house in Kushaiguda on Sunday morning. Kavita was an employee of 
Countrywide Financial Corporation at Hi-Tec City. A year ago, Kavita married her colleague Sainath. The couple used to stay at Kamalanagar in Kushaiguda.

“For the past three days, the couple were quarrelling on duty timings”, Kushaiguda IP K Venkat Reddy said.

“Both Kavita and Sainath used to go by office cab at 8.30 am. Kavita used to return home by 6.30 pm, but Sainath used to return only by 11.30 pm. Kavita had been complaining about Sainath coming late in the night for the last three days. The couple had an altercation on this,” Venkat Reddy said.

On Sunday at around 10.30 am, Sainath went out of the house for some work and returned at 11 am. Sainath grew suspicious after Kavita did not respond to his repeated knocks. “With the help of the watchman, Sainath climbed into the house from the balcony and found Kavita hanging from the ceiling fan in the bedroom,” Venkat Reddy said.

With the help of neighbours, Sainath immediately rushed his wife to a nearby hospital where she was declared brought dead. Police registered a case under section 174 (Suspicious death) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). Source