Daniel Catan | Mexican composer, 62

Mexican composer Daniel Catan, 62, who adapted the Italian film

Il Postino

to opera, died Friday while working on a new opera in Austin, Texas, a University of Texas spokeswoman said Monday. The cause of death Friday was not immediately released.

Mr. Catan was best known in the United States for his operatic adaptation of Il Postino, which is sung in Spanish. The Los Angeles Opera premiered Il Postino last year with Placido Domingo playing the poet Pablo Neruda and tenor Charles Castronovo as the wide-eyed postman Mario Ruoppolo. The performance won rave reviews.

The opera is more traditional than most contemporary compositions, with arias, duets, and lush tonal music, closer to the style of Giacomo Puccini, reviewers noted.

More recently, the Butler School of Music had commissioned Mr. Catan to create an opera from the Frank Capra film Meet John Doe, and he was temporarily living in Austin, said Leslie Lyon, a spokeswoman for the University of Texas' College of Fine Arts.

He was believed to be the first Mexican composer to have his work performed in the United States when the San Diego Opera produced Rappaccini's Daughter in 1994. He was also known for his 1996 opera Florence in the Amazon, which included elements of magical realism. He had also composed symphonies, choral works, a ballet, and a film score.

A native of Mexico City, Mr. Catan was of Jewish and Russian descent. He received a doctorate from Princeton in composition and studied philosophy at Britain's University of Sussex.

- Associated Press