The Oscar-winning composer and pianist Andre Previn has died in New York the age of 89.

His death on Thursday was confirmed to the New York Times by Linda Petrikova, his manager.

Born in Berlin in 1929, he enrolled in the city’s Conservatory of Music aged just six, but he was expelled in 1938 for being Jewish and left Germany with his family the following year, just before the outbreak of the Second World War.

The family first moved to Paris, then to Los Angeles, where Previn studied composition and played in the California Youth Symphony.

Becoming a a US citizen in 1943, he became a recognised Hollywood composer and won four Academy Awards for best musical score, including for Porgy & Bess in 1959 and My Fair Lady in 1964.

But he soon abandoned film and turned his attention to his work as a pianist, appearing in sold-out concerts that would combime classical music and jazz.

He also conducted orchestras including the London Symphony and Los Angeles Philharmonic.

“For years he conducted in small cities to gain experience and overcome the label of a Hollywood composer,” Variety wrote of his change of career in the late 1960s.

Previn was known for having a colourful private life, having been married five times. He had nine biological and adopted children.