An internationally renowned concert pianist, composer, conductor and professor at the University of California, Joaquin Nin-Culmell studied at the Schola Cantorum and the Paris Conservatoire, winning the first prize in 1934. Nin was a student of Manuel de Falla. In 1939, Nin-Culmell settled in the United States. Nin was appointed professor at Middlebury College in Vermont and then assumed professorship at UC Berkeley. Nin-Culmell was commissioned by the French government to write organ music and Symphony of Mysteries for organ and choir.