Alan Hovhaness wrote more than 400 pieces, including at least nine operas, two ballets, more than 60 symphonies, and more than 100 chamber pieces. He melded Western and Asian musical styles to create a unique melodic blend of his own.

Born Alan Vaness Chamakjian, in Somerville, Mass., in 1911, he demonstrated musical precociousness at an early age. When the family moved to the Boston area, he began studying piano with Adelaide Proctor and later took instruction from Heinrich Gebhard.

His early compositions were thoroughly Western. However, the influences of Eastern musical styles became more evident after he attended Bohuslav Martinu's master class in composition in 1942 at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood.

Alan Hovhaness died June 21, in Seattle, at the age of 89.

"His music reflects the kind of gentle, wonderful soul that he was, but also has the turbulence that one sees in an eruption of a volcano or a tremendous thunderstorm,"said the music director of the Seattle Symphony.