Composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies dies aged 81 after cancer battle

British composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies has died at the age of 81.

The renowned composer and conductor, who was made Master of the Queen’s Music in 2004, had been battling leukaemia.

Davies recently admitted that the cancer he had been fighting since 2013 had returned last year.

He continued to work through his treatment and completed a new children’s opera last year, saying: “music is my life.”

At the time, Davis said: “I am so pleased to have finished the children's opera. I handed in the 98 pages to the publishers the other day. It was a great relief and quite a moment."

"The treatment I am having is not fun but the care I have had from the medical staff and the support from friends has been wonderful. I'm going to keep writing as long as I can. Music is my life - it is what I do."

He added: “I have felt very tired and unwell and it has been a bit of a struggle. It was a bit of a blow when they told me the leukaemia had returned, but only a few people survive the type I have the first year.

"Now I'm fighting it again. I am going to make the best of my time and write as much as possible. I already have a string quartet in my head that I want to get down."