Cultural Medallion winner Iskandar Mirza Ismail, a prolific musician, composer and music director died of lung and brain cancer at 3.10am this morning. He was 58.

Iskandar, whose music career started in the 1970s, has composed, arranged and been music director for many National Day Parades since the late 1980s, as well as major events such as Chingay, the Asian Youth Games and Youth Olympic Games.

He also arranged the music behind internationally staged musicals including Snow. Wolf. Lake and Chang & Eng, as well as for popular Mandarin pop stars like Jacky Cheung and Aaron Kwok.

According to family members, he died at his condominium. He leaves behind a wife aged 60, and two grown-up children.

He was diagnosed with cancer in 2010.

dinohadi@sph.com.sg