BERLIN, Sept 18, 2008 (AFP) - German-Argentine contemporary classical music composer Mauricio Kagel has died in Cologne, his music publishing house C.F. Peters Musikverlag said Thursday. He was 76.

Kagel founded a chamber orchestra in the city of his birth Buenos Aires in 1954, then moved to Germany in 1956 where he became leading promoter of the Electronic Music Studio in Cologne.

He died overnight Wednesday to Thursday after a long illness, a spokeswoman for C.F. Peters told AFP.