In Memoriam 2013

January

Stanley Ackerman, age 78. A graduate of Northwestern University and the Eastman School, he played viola with the Rochester Philharmonic and violin with the Grant Park Symphony and the Lyric Opera orchestra during the 1950s before beginning a long career as a high school music teacher. Former students of Ackerman’s are members of orchestras in Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Columbus, and Oslo, and one is dean of the Harvard Law School.

Carl Becker, age 93. Dean of American luthiers, he was born in Chicago. He began his career as an apprentice to his father, luthier Carl G. Becker and worked with his father at William Lewis and Son in Chicago. He served as a flight instructor for the US Army during World War II, returning to work at William Lewis and Son until 1968, when he and his father started their own firm. He taught several noted American luthiers, including Samuel Zygmuntowicz and two of his own children, Jennifer and Paul. In addition to being an avid fisherman while spending summers in northern Wisconsin, he had applied to renew his pilot’s license shortly before he died.

Joseph Eger, age 92. Hornist who studied at the Curtis Institute, he had a solo career during the 1950s before an injury caused by dental work ended his playing career. He then studied conducting with Pierre Monteux, and founded several ensembles in the New York area that gave free concerts. He also founded the Symphony for United Nations in 1974, conducting its last concert in San Francisco in 2010.

Richard Hackman, at 72. A native of Illinois, he received a PhD from the University of Illinois before joining the faculty of Yale University, from where he moved to Harvard University in 1986, where he became the Edgar Pierce professor of social and organizational psychology. He was known for his study of teams, and did extensive work on the organizational dynamics of orchestras. An appreciation written by one of his colleagues, Erin Lehman, can found on  the Polyphonic site here.

Richard Luby, age 68. Originally from Detroit, he studied violin with Detroit Symphony concertmaster Mischa Mischakoff before attending the Curtis School. He soloed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, the National Symphony and the Rochester Philharmonic as well as several orchestras overseas. He joined the faculty of the University of North Carolina in 1979.

Willis Page, age 94. Originally a bassist, he graduated from the Eastman School and joined the Boston Symphony in 1940. After returning to the BSO after military service in World War II, he was appointed assistant principal bass. He led member of the BSO in 1954 in the first stereo recordings made, after which he was appointed associate conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic. He became music director of the Nashville Symphony in 1960 and hired the orchestra’s first full-time musicians. In 1971, he became music director of the Jacksonville Symphony.

Gino Rafaelli, age 87. A native of Chicago, he joined the first violins of the Cleveland Orchestra in 1957 after stints with St. Louis, New Orleans, and Houston, retiring from Cleveland in 2001. He was ICSOM’s first treasurer. He was also active in the anti-nuclear movement from the early 1980s.

Yuli Turovsky, age 73. He emigrated from the Soviet Union to Canada in 1976 after serving as the principal cellist of the Moscow Chamber Orchestra. After moving to Montreal, he founded the I Musici chamber orchestra and served as its Music Director until 2011. As well as soloing with several Canadian Orchestras, he was an active chamber musician and taught at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal from 1977-1985. He was named to the Order of Canada in 2011.

Isidor Saslav, age 74. A native of Israel, he emigrated to the US with his family and studied violin with Mischa Mischakoff before joining the Detroit Symphony at the age of 17. He was appointed concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony in 1969 and left to be concertmaster of the New Zealand Symphony in 1981.  He also served on the faculties of the Peabody Institute, the Eastman School, and SUNY Buffalo. He was also a scholar and collector of the works of George Bernard Shaw.

Stephen Simon, age 75. A New York native, he studied organ at Yale University and conducting with Josef Krips before becoming music director of the Handel Society of New York. He founded the Washington Chamber Symphony in 1976 and served as its music director until it disbanded in 2002. While at the Kennedy Center, he also founded its annual Handel Festival and presented several US premieres of Handel operas.

Rolf Wilhelm, age 86. Born in Munich, he entered the Vienna Academy at the age of 15 to study piano and composition, being drafted soon thereafter and ending up in a POW camp. He returned to the Munich Academy after the war ended. Sometimes known as the German John Williams, he wrote music for over 25 plays, 250 radio programs, 500 television productions, and 65 movie scores, as well as concert music, including a concertino for tuba and orchestra and To Be Continued, described as “Murder Mystery for orchestra and five-shot revolver.”

February

Frances Andrade, age 48. A violinist with the Chamber Ensemble of London, she committed suicide six days after testifying about her sexual abuse by a former teacher, Michael Brewer, at Chetham’s School of Music. Brewer was subsequently convicted of multiple counts of sexual abuse. Andrade was the youngest person to obtain an Associate of the Royal College of Music qualification when she was 13 and was an active London freelancer before raising four children.

William Bennett, age 56. A native of New Haven CT, he studied oboe at Yale University and the Juilliard School before joining the San Francisco Symphony as principal oboe in 1979. In addition to his work with the orchestra, Bennett taught at the San Francisco Conservatory and played with numerous Bay Area groups. He suffered a cerebral hemorrhage during a performance of the Strauss oboe concerto with the SFS and died a few days later.

Gunilla von Bahr, age 72. Swedish flutist who made many recordings for the BIS label, she was manager of the Malmö Symphony from 1990-95 and became rector of the Royal College of Music in Stockholm.

Zheng Cao, age 46. Born in Shanghai, she was an Adler Fellow at the San Francisco Opera, where she sang on many occasions, including the title role in the premiere performance of The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Stewart Wallace in 2008.

Van Cliburn, age 78. Winner of the first Tchaikowsky Competition in 1958, he was born in Shreveport LA to a pianist mother who had studied with a student of Franz Liszt and who was his first piano teacher. After studying at the Juilliard School with Rosina Lhevinne, he won the Leventritt Competition in 1954. He retired from performing in 1978, but made infrequent appearances after 1987.

Charles Darden, age 66. A native of Texas, he graduated from the Curtis School as a pianist before founding the Berkeley Free Orchestra. He was appointed apprentice conductor at the San Francisco Symphony in 1970 and assistant conductor at the Cleveland Orchestra in 1975. He spent most of his conducting career in Europe, especially at the Norske Opera. He was also regarded as an authority on the music of Scott Joplin and wrote a one-man show about the composer.

James DePreist, age 76. A native of Philadelphia, he received degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. He contracted polio at the age of 25 while conducting in Bangkok and won the the Dmitri Mitropoulos competition the following year, which led to his hiring by Leonard Bernstein as assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic.  After serving as assistant conductor of the National Symphony, he became music director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec in 1976 and the Oregon Symphony in 1980. After leaving Oregon in 2003, he became permanent conductor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra. In addition to also serving as music director of the Malmo Symphony and the Monte Carlo Philharmonic, he conducted most of the major American orchestras as a guest conductor and recorded with the Oregon Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. He received the National Medal of Arts from President George W. Bush in 2005.

Paul Walter Fürst, age 86. A native of Vienna, he studied with Willi Boskowsky and played viola in the Munich Philharmonic and Vienna State Opera before joining the Vienna Philharmonic in 1962. He served as managing director of the Vienna Philharmonic from 1969-82 and 1984-90. He was also a prolific composer and was an officer of several music industry groups in Austria.

David Lloyd Jenkins,  age 92. A Minnesota native, he was a graduate of the Curtis School and served as a pilot with the US Navy during World War II. He was chosen by Benjamin Britten to sing the title role in Britten’s Albert Herring for the 1949 US premiere and sang with New York City Opera for many years. He appeared with many American orchestras as tenor soloist and recorded Handel’s Messiah with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic. As an administrator, he served as director of the American Opera Center at the Juilliard School and general director of the Lake George Opera Festival.

Washington McClain, age 52. Principal oboist with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra from 1992-99, he was a graduate of Northeast Louisiana University and Northwestern University. He was on the faculty of the Early Music Institute at Indiana University and was also a member of Ensemble Arion in Montreal.

Claude Monteux, age 92. Son of conductor Pierre Monteux, he was born in the US but grew up in Paris. He studied flute with Georges Laurent, principal flute of the Boston Symphony, and worked for a number of prominent conductors. He served as music director of the Columbus Symphony from 1953-56 and the Hudson Valley Philharmonic (which he founded) from 1957-75. At various times, he was on the faculty of the New England Conservatory, the Peabody Conservatory, Vassar College, Ohio State University, and South Dakota State University, as well as the Pierre Monteux School in Maine.

Sergio Rabago León, age 46. Timpanist of the Symphony Orchestra of the University of Guanajato, he also taught at the Conservatorio de las Rosas in Morelia. After studies in Mexico, he studied at the University of Utah and the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam.

Evelyne Robitaille, age 78. A native of Manitoba, she was a violist with the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec for over 40 years until her retirement in 2005. She was President of the Organization of Canadian Symphony Musicians during the 1990s  and President of the Québec Musicians Guild, AFM Local 119, for many years.

Matthew Ruggiero, age 80. A native of Philadelphia and graduate of the Curtis School, Ruggiero was second bassoonist of the National Symphony before being appointed assistant principal bassoon of the Boston Symphony in 1961. After retiring in 1989, he became a graduate student at Boston University and received a PhD in Music and Literature in 1992. In addition to a 20-year relationship as coach with the Asian Youth Orchestra, he founded by the Boston Woodwind Society in 2003.

Wolfgang Sawallisch, age 89. Born in Munich, he was drafted into the Wehrmacht during World War II as a  radio operator and ended the war as an English prisoner of war. After graduating from the Hochschule für Musik in Munich, he began his conducting career as a coach and then principal conductor at the opera house in Augsberg, becoming the youngest conductor ever to appear at the Bayreuth Festival in 1957. At various times he served as principal conductor of the Vienna Symphony, the Hamburg Symphony, music director of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and the Bavarian State Opera. In 1993 he was appointed music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, a position he held until 2003. He many many recordings for EMI, Phillips and Sony. He was also a noted pianist and accompanist, winning the 1949 Geneva International Music Competition.

Jérome Savary, age 70. Born in Argentina to a French father and American mother, he grew up in Paris and moved to New York at the age of 19. He founded Le Grand Magic Circus in Paris and produced operas for La Scala, Glyndebourne, and San Francisco Opera. From 200-07 he served as director of the Opéra-Comique in Paris.

March

Larry Ashmore, age 85. A graduate of the Royal College of Music, he played bass in the Boyd Neel Chamber Orchestra, London Symphony and London Philharmonic before joining the BBC as an arranger in 1966. He was active as an orchestrator in the film industry, orchestrating such films as Henry V, Bridget Jones’ Diary, Gosford Park, and The Passion of the Christ.

Edward Krolick Jr., age 89. A native of Rochester NY, he had begun studies in bass at the Eastman School when he was drafted into the US Army in 1943. After his discharge in 1946, he finished his studies at Eastman and joined the San Antonio Symphony in 1948. He returned to do graduate work at the Eastman School in 1950 and joined the faculty of the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana in 1951. He played in numerous orchestras in the area before retiring in 1983 and moving to Fort Collins CO, where he taught bass at Colorada State University and played principal bass in the Ft. Collins Symphony.

Kenneth Pasmanick, age 88. A native of Rochester NY, he was a bassoonist with the US Army Band during World War II and then attended the Eastman School. He joined the National Symphony as principal bassoon in 1947, retiring 50 years later in 1997. He was soloist in world premieres of bassoon concerti by David Amram and Gunther Schuller, among other composers. He had a life-long interest in jazz, having performed with Benny Goodman, harlie Byrd and Dizzy Gillespie when young.

Seymour Rosen, age 87. A native of New York City, Rosen played bass professionally while in high school. Drafted into the US Army in 1944, he was wounded and captured during the Battle of the Bulge. He studied at the Juilliard School upon returning to the US and, after taking a course given by the American Symphony Orchestra League, managed, in succession, the Orchestral Society of Westchester, the Columbus Symphony, and the Buffalo Philharmonic before becoming executive director of the ASOL in 1966. He became executive director of the Pittsburgh Symphony a year later, executive director of the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1978, and managing and artistic director of Carnegie Hall in 1982.

Wolfgang Schulz, age 67. Long-time principal flute of the Vienna Philharmonic, he was born in Linz He became principal flute of the Vienna Volksoper orchestra at the age of 18, joined the Vienna State Opera orchestra in 1970, and became a member of the Vienna Philharmonic in 1973.  A frequent soloist with the orchestra, he was also an active chamber musician and c0-founded the Ensemble Wien-Berlin in 1983. He was also active in promoting the works of contemporary Austrian composers.

Alvin Score, age 76. A native of Detroit, he began violin studies at the age of 10, He joined the North Carolina Symphony after studies at Wayne State University and, after a year in the US Army, joined the Detroit Symphony in 1960 and remained a member for 53 years until his death. In addition to his work with the orchestra, he was a studio musician at Motown during the 1960s.

Rise Stevens, age 99. Born in New York, she studied at the Juilliard School before beginning a European operatic career in the late 1930s. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1938. She was one of the first crossover artists, appearing with Bing Crosby in Going My Way in 1944 as well as several other non-operatic films. She was also general manager of the Metropolitan Opera National Company from 1961-66.

Derek Watkins, age 68. Born in Reading UK,  he began studying cornet at the age of 4. In addition to working with jazz legends Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie and others, he also made recordings with the London Symphony and the London Philharmonic. He was also featured on recordings made by, amongst others, Frank Sinatra and the Beatles, as well as playing on the soundtrack of every James Bond movie from Dr. No to Skyfall. He also taught at the Royal Academy of Music.

Robert Zildjian, age 89. Founder of Sabian Inc., which manufactured cymbals, he was born in Boston and was the son of Avedis Zildjian, a descendant of the alchemist of the same name who, in 1618, developed the alloy of which cymbals are made. Robert Zildjian left the family company in 1981 to form Sabian as the result of a family feud.

April

Jacob Avshalomov, age 94. Music director of the Portland Youth Philharmonic for 41 years, he was born in China to a Russian father and American mother. After working in manufacturing as a teenager, he moved to the US in 1937 to study with Ernst Toch. He received a Master’s degree from the Eastman School in 1943 and then joined the US Army, serving as an interpreter, returning to civilian life to join the faculty at Columbia University, where he remained for 8 years before moving to Portland. He was also a composer and won several awards for his competitions, including a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1951.

Alceo Bocchino, age 94. A native of Brazil, he founded what became the National Symphony Orchestra of Brazil, as well as the Paraná Symphony Orchestra. He was a student and colleague of Villa-Lobos. He was also professor of composition and conducting at the Music School Villa-Lobos in Rio de Janeiro.

Bertine Corimby. Originally from Corsica, she received a master’s degree from Northwestern University and received a Fulbright scholarship. She moved to Las Vegas in the 1960s and worked as a freelance violinist on the Las Vegas Strip. She was a founding member of the Las Vegas Philharmonic.

Jean-Michel Damase, age 85. A noted French composer, he started piano studies at the age of 5 and studied with Albert Cortot at the Paris Conservatory, winning first prize for piano in 194o and the Grand Prix de Rome in 1947 for his trio for flute, viola and harp. In addition to seven operas, he wrote extensively for chamber ensembles, two concerti, and one symphony.

Colin Davis, age 86. A native of Surrey, he studied clarinet at the Royal College of Music. After graduation, he played in a military band as part of his compulsory service, after which he freelanced until 1957, when he became assistant conductor of the BBC Scottish Orchestra. His breakthrough year was 1960, during which he substituted for Sir Thomas Beecham at Glyndebourne and conducted at the Proms. Prior to his appointment as principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra in 1995, he served in the same capacity at the Covent Garded opera and the Bavarian Radio Symphony, and as principle guest conductor with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Dresden Staatskapelle, He made an estimated 320 recordings, including three complete cycles of the symphonies of Sibelius. He was knighted in 1980 and received numerous other international honors, including Pipe Smoker of the Year in 1996.

Olga Enns, age 33. Acting director and stage director of the Perm Opera and Ballet, Enns died as the result of a fall into the orchestra pit during a rehearsal in March.

Thomas Hemsley, age 85. A native of Leicestershire, he graduated from Oxford with a physics degree before beginning an extensive European career as a baritone, with appointments as a soloist at the Aachen Opera, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, and the Zürich Opera. He performed and recorded the role of Beckmesser in Die Meistersinger at Bayreuth and recorded the B minor Mass of Bach with Otto Klemperer, as well as performing in a number of English operatic premieres. He also taught at the Guildhall School.

Adoph Herseth, age 91. Originally from Minnesota, he graduated from Luther College in Iowa with a degree in mathematics before serving in the US Navy during World War II. After the war, he did graduate work at the New England Conservatory before being appointed principal trumpet of the Chicago Symphony in 1948, beginning a 56-season career with the CSO, 52 of which were as principal. He was widely regarded as the leading orchestral trumpet player of his generation.

Carmel Kaine, age 75. A native of Wagga Wagga (Australia), she graduated at 17 from the New South Wales Conservatorium and spent two years as a violinist with the South Australian Symphony Orchestra before moving to London and continuing her studies at the Royal Academy of Music and the Juilliard School, winning first prize at the Vienna International Violin Competition in 1967. She was an early member of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, winning a Grand Prix du Disque for her recording of Vivaldi’s La stravaganza with the orchestra. She taught at the Royal Academy for twelve years before returning to Australia to teach at the Queensland Conservatorium in 1990.

Richard Kelley, age 76. A native of Southern California, he was a bassist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, as had been his father. He was a member of the orchestra for 56 years, joining at the age of 19 after a year with the Dallas Symphony.

Nolan Miller, age 73. Principal horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1978-2005, he joined the orchestra as co-principal upon graduating from the Curtis Institute.

Jean-François Paillard, age 85. He studied mathematics at the Sorbonne and subequently musicology at the Paris Conservatory and conducting at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. He started his own chamber orchestra in 1953, which specialized in music of the Baroque period and particularly French Baroque music. He conducted on over 300 recordings, including recordings with Maurice André and Jean-Pierre Rampal. He won numerous European awards for his recordings with the Jean-François Paillard Chamber Orchestra.

Janos Starker, age 88. Born of Jewish parents in Budapest, he made his debut as a cellist at the age of 6 and his professional debut at age 14, playing the  Dvořák concerto on three hour’s notice. After World War II (during which he spent some time in an internment camp), he was appointed principal cellist of the Budapest Opera orchestra and the Budapest Philharmonic. He emigrated to the US in 1948 to become principal cellist of the Dallas Symphony, a position he left a year later for the same position at the Metropolitan Opera. In 1952 he joined the Chicago Symphony as principal cellist, but left in 1958 to join the faculty of Indiana University and resume his solo career. He made 160 recordings, including five recordings of the Bach cello suites.

William Steck, age 79. Concertmaster of the National Symphony from 1982-2001, he was a native of Wyoming, studied at the Curtis Institute, and had degrees from the Philadelphia Musical Academy and the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to joining the National Symphony, he was concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony and the Atlanta Symphony, as well as having played with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra.

Linda Vogt, age 90. Born in Melbourne, she became only the second female wind player in an Australian orchestra when she joined the ABC Sydney Studio Orchestra as flutist at the age of 20. She left the orchestra in 1952 to start a family but freelanced in both the classical and jazz worlds. She joined the Sydney Opera House Opera and Ballet Orchestra in 1973. She was a noted teacher and helped found the Sydney Flute Society and the Australian Flute Association. She was made a member of The Order of Australia in 1989.

Robert Ward, age 95. A graduate of the Eastman School, he was born in Cleveland and, after joining the US Army in 1942, became director of the 7th Division Band, for which he wrote two compositions while stationed in the Philippines. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1962 for his opera of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. He wrote 7 other operas, as well as symphonies and chamber music. In 1967 he was appointed chancellor of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, moving to Duke University in the mid-1970s. He was awarded a lifetime award from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2011.

David Zauder, age 84. Born and raised in Poland, he survived 5 years in various concentration camps during World War II before being liberated by the US Army and emigrating to Detroit in 1946. He studied trumpet at Wayne State University and served in the Army as a musician before joining the Boston Pops as principal trumpet. in 1958, he was hired by George Szell and joined the Cleveland Orchestra as second trumpet. He retired in 1997 after 41 years as a member of the orchestra and 38 years as assistant personnel manager and personnel manager. He also taught at the Cleveland Institute from 1978-95.

May

Elliot del Borgo, age 74. A native of Port Chester NY, he studied with Vincent Persichetti at the Philadelphia Conservatory. He was professor of music at the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam, where he also received his undergraduate degree. His best-known composition was the music he composed for the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid NY, but he wrote over 600 compositions, as well as directing the Crane Wind Ensemble.

Robert DiDomenico, age 86. A New York native, he  began his career as a freelance flutist in New York before joining the faculty of the New England Conservatory in 1969, teaching theory and composition and serving as Associate Dean and Dean between 1973-78. He was a prolific composer whose works were conducted by Gunther Schuller, James Levine, Sarah Caldwell, and Paul Dunkel.

Henri Dutilleux, age 97. After study at the Douai and Paris conservatories, he won the Prix de Rome in 1938, the first of many such awards. He was head of music production for Radio France from 1945-1963 and was composer in resident at Tanglewood in 1995 and 1998. He wrote works for Isaac Stern, Mstislav Rostropovich, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Charles Munch, Sejii Ozawa, and Renee Fleming, among others.

Anders Eliasson, age 66. Noted Swedish composer, he began his studies on the trumpet, starting his own small jazz band at the age of 10. He studied composition at the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. He was composer in residence at the Lapland Festival and, since 2005, with the Arcos Chamber Ensemble. In addition to four symphonies, he wrote a number of concerti, works for string orchestra, and chamber music. He won the Nordic Council Music Prize in 1992 for his first symphony.

Derek Honner, age 91.  Professor of Flute at the Royal Academy of Music from 1954-87, he had also played piccolo with the London Philharmonic. He was a proponent of the silver flute at a time in England when most flutists played on a wooden instrument.

Jooho Kim, age 53. CEO and President of the Seoul Philharmonic since 2009, Kim began his career at the Seoul Arts Centre in 1987. Prior to that appointment, he served as founding president of the Korean Arts and Cultural Education Services. He studied at Korea University and the City University of London. During his tenure at the Seoul Philharmonic, the orchestra made its first tour of Europe and signed a contract with Deutsche Gramaphone. He served on several boards and advisory committees, and wrote two books on arts management.

Gerald Rosenbaum, age 62. A member of the first violin section of the Alabama Symphony, he had degrees from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory and Syracuse Symphony. Before moving to Birmingham, he had played with the Syracuse Symphony, the Charlotte Symphony and the Saskatoon Symphony, as well as serving as concertmaster of the Boise Philharmonic. He was described as an avid collector of violins and bows.

Ed Shaughnessy, age 84. Drummer with the “Tonight Show” band for 29, he began his musical studies on piano in his native Jersey City and was a full-time professional in his teens. Prior to joining the “Tonight Show” band, Shaughnessy  had worked as a staff musician at CBS Television and had worked with most of the great jazz musicians of his era, including Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, and Billie Holiday. He played on pops concerts with many American orchestras, particularly when his former bandmate Doc Severinsen was conducting.

Claramae Turner, age 92. A native of California, she made her principal debut with the San Francisco Opera in 1945 and sang with the Metropolitan Opera from 1946-50 and the New York City Opera from 1953-69. She made frequent appearances on radio and television, including a famous performance of Un ballo in maschera conducted by Arturo Toscanini in 1954. She sang the role of Nettie in the film version of Carousel in 1956. I Left My Heart in San Francisco was written for her, although first recorded by Tony Bennett.

Masuko Ushioda, age 71. Winner of a silver medal at the Tchaikowsky Competition in 1966, she was born in China during the Japanese occupation of Manchuria. She was a classmate of Sejii Ozawa as a violin student at the Toho Gakuen School in Tokyo, later studying in Moscow and with Josef Szigeti in Switzerland. She joined the faculty of the New England Conservatory in 1974 and taught there until her death. She performed frequently as a chamber musician in Boston and with the Saito Kinen Orchestra and Mito Chamber Orchestra in Japan.

June

Bruno Bartoletti, age 87. A native of Florence, he began his studies on the piccolo, and studied flute and piano at the Cherubini Conservatory, joining the orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino as piccolo before beginning his career as a conductor, making his professional conducting debut in 1953 in Rigoletto. He was engaged as resident conductor at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in 1957 and became its music director in 1965, also serving as principal conductor of the Royal Danish Opera from 1957-60. He made his US debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1956, becoming its principal conductor in 1964 and artistic director in 1976, positions he held until 1999. He conducted around 600 performances with the Lyric Opera from 1956 to 2007.

Eric Blöndel Bengtsson, age 81. Born in Copenhagen to a Danish father and Icelandic mother, he studied with Gregor Piatigorsky at the Curtis Institute, becoming his teaching assistant there in 1949. He returned to Denmark when he was appointed to the Royal Danish Academy of Music in 1953, moving from there to the Hochsule für Musik in Cologne in 1980. In 1990 he joined the faculty of the University of Michigan School of Music. His solo career included appearances with many orchestras, including the Royal Philharmonic, the English Chamber Orchestra, and the Mozarteum in Salzburg, as well as over 50 recordings.

Mario Bernardi, age 82. A native of Kirkland Lake, Ontario, he moved with his family to Italy in 1936, where he studied keyboard and composition at the Manzato Conservatory in Treviso. His family returned to Canada in 1945, and he finished his studies at the Royal Conservatory before beginning a career as a pianist. His work as an opera coach led to engagements as conductor at the Canadian Opera Company and assistant conductor at Sadler’s Wells Opera in London. in 1968, he became the first music director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, a position he held until 1982. He also served as music director of the Calgary Philharmonic from 1984 to 1992 and principal conductor of the CBC Radio Orchestra from 1983 to 2006.

Roger Bigley, age 69. Born in Gloucester, he studied viola with Watson Forbes at the Royal Academy of Music. He was a founding member of the Lindsay Quartet, and played with them until 1985, when he left to join the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester as assistant principal. In 1988 he joined the faculty of the Royal Northern College of Music.

Andrew Eckard ,age 49. Born in Palo Alto and raised in Portland OR,  he studied cello at Indiana University and the University of Illinois. Before joining the Honolulu Symphony as associate principal cello in 1996, he was principal cello of the New York City Opera National Company orchestra as well as a member of the Spokane Symphony. He moved to Los Angeles in 2010 after the bankruptcy of the Honolulu Symphony to pursue a freelance career.

Hugh Maguire, age 86. A native of Dublin, he began violin studies at the age of 6, later attending the Royal Academy of Music. He became leader (concertmaster) of the London Symphony Orchestra in 1956 after stints in the London Philharmonic and as leader of the Bournemouth Symphony. He left the LSO in 1962 and became leader of the BBC Symphony, which position he left in 1967. He was active for many years with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and the Melos Ensemble, as well as playing with the Allegri Quartet. He also taught for many years at the Royal Academy.

Dorothy Weldon Masella, age 83. Long-time harpist with the Montreal Symphony, she was born in Montreal and studied at the Montreal Conservatory. She toured Canada extensively as a soloist and recitalist. She joined the Montreal Symphony Symphony in  1947, becoming principal harp in 1971.

Paul Olefsky, age 87. A native of Chicago, he served as principal cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra during the late 1940s after completing his education at the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Daniel Saiderberg and Gregor Piatigorsky. He made numerous solo appearances both in the US and overseas, including premieres of works by Virgil Thomson, Darius Milhaud, and Alexander Tcherepnin, and won the Naumberg Award in 1948. He joined the Navy in 1950, and was appointed principal cellist of the Detroit Symphony, where he served for six years, leaving to join the faculty of the University of Iowa. After teaching at the Peabody Conservatory and the Hartt School of Music, he joined the faculty of the Butler School of Music in Austin TX in 1974.

David Schwarz, age 97. A violist who studied at the Curtis Institute, Schwarz joined the Cleveland Orchestra at the age of 20 and was appointed principal violist 3 years later. He joined the US Army Air Force during World War II and played with the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band. After the war, he played with the Detroit Symphony and the NBC Symphony. He was, at various times, a member of the Paganini Quartet, the Walden String Quartet, and the Yale Quartet. He taught at Yale from 1962-69, leaving to join the faculty at the California Institute of the Arts, a position he held for one year before becoming a full-time studio musician. He played on many John Williams film scores as principal violist, numerous pop and jazz recordings, and was voted Most Valuable Player five times by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. He was an active member and officer of the Recording Musicians Association and its LA branch, and for many years was a trustee of the AFM-EP Fund.

Hugh Walsh, age 72. A native of Philadelphia, he became general manager of the Academy of Music in Philadelphia at the age of 24, remaining in the position for 37 years. He helped oversee the 1997 renovation of the Academy, and co-owned a large local tour company with his brother.

Robert Weisz, age 88. Born in Romania to Hungarian parents, he studied piano with Annie Fischer and Dinu Lipatta, and Myra Hess. He won first prize at the Geneva Competition in 1949 and had an active solo career in Europe before becoming artist-in-residence at Indiana University in 1967 and joining the faculty of Laval University in 1969, becoming a Canadian citizen in 1975.

July

Kenneth Collins, age 81. A tenor who spent much of his career with the Welsh National Opera, Collins was a native of Birmingham. Although without formal training, he joined the D’Oyly Carte Company as a chorister in 1958, moving to the chorus of Covent Garden in 1960. He made his WNO debut in 1963 and joined the company as a principal in 1972. He also performed with the English National Opera, with New York City Opera, and with companies in Paris, Buenos Aires and Australia, where he eventually retired.

Ron Bishop, age 78. A native of Rochester NY, he wanted to study trombone but, at age 7, didn’t have long enough arms, so was redirected to tuba. He graduated from the Eastman School of Music, leading the University of Rochester swim team during his time there. After serving with the US Army Field Band and earning a master’s degree from the University of Illinois, he was hired by Josef Krips to play in the Buffalo Philharmonic, following Krips to the  San Francisc, Symphony. He joined the Cleveland Orchestra in 1967, from which he retired in 2005. He was active as a teacher as well, serving on the faculties of the Cleveland Institute of Music, Baldwin-Wallace College, and the Oberlin Conservatory.

Nicholas Busch, age 73. Principal horn of the London Philharmonic from 1972 to 2006, he studied with Aubrey Brain at the Royal Academy of Music before joining the Philharmonia Orchestra as principal horn in 1963.

Wesley Foster, age 66. He was principal clarinet of the Vancouver Symphony for 23 years, before which time he had held the same position with the National Ballet of Canada orchestra, the Hamilton Phiharmonic, and the Indianapolis Symphony. He also taught clarinet for many years at the University of British Columbia.

Laurie Frink, age 61. A Nebraska native, she studied trumpet at the University of Nebraska and, after moving to New York, with Carmine Caruso. She worked with the Maria Schneider Orchestra and other big bands, as well as in many Broadway pit orchestras. She taught at the New England Conservatory of Music.

Fernando Grillo, age 67. Noted Italian double bassist and composer, Grillo won first prize at the Gaudeamus contemporary music competition. He collaborated with many composers, including Harrison Birtwistle, Luciana Berio, and Iannis Xenakis, being dubbed by Karkheinz Stockhausen “the Buddha of the double bass.” He was appointed to the faculty of the Academua Nazionale Santa Cecilia in Rome in 2000. He committed suicide by jumping from a window in his studio.

Kevin Hagen, age 57. A native of Wisconsin, he attended the University of Wisconsin as a voice major and the University of Cincinnati, receiving a master’s degree in arts administration. He worked in various capacities for the Milwaukee Symphony, the Florida Symphony, the Denver Symphony and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra before being appointed executive director of the New Mexico Symphony in 1997. After leaving that position in 2007, he ran a consultant business and, for two years, worked for Opera Southwest as company manager.

Noel Lee, age 88. Born in China to American parents, he studied at Harvard University with Walter Piston and, after service in World War II, in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. Equally active as composer and pianist, he spent much of his life in France. He served, at various times, as visiting professor at Dartmouth College and Brandeis and Cornell Universities. He made over 200 recordings, including many 20th century works.

William “Rick” Lester, age 61. A graduate of Drury University, Lester was head of marketing for the Cincinnati Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra before becoming executive director of, at various times, the San Antonio Symphony, the Charlotte Symphony, and the Knoxville Symphony. He founded TRG Arts, a consulting group, in 1995, where his specialty was demand management, pricing and cost of sales. He served as a distinguished visiting profess at the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University, and has lectured at numerous university arts management programs. He died of a heart attack during a charity bicycle ride.

Luis Fernando Rizo Salom, age 41. A native of Colombia, he did undergraduate and graduate studies at Javierana University in Bogotá before moving to France in 2000 to study at the Paris Conservatory. From 2005-07 he was composer-in-residence at the Casa de Velázquez in Madrid. His compositions had been performed internationally. He was killed in a hang-gliding accident.

Viktor Sedov, age 65. A violinist with the Bolshoi Theater orchestra for four decades, Sedow died a day after he fell into the orchestra pit, possibly through a trapdoor that had been inadvertently left open. In addition to his work as an orchestra musician, he was also on the faculty of the Academic Music College of the Moscow State Conservatory.

J. Ryan Selberg, age 66. A Los Angeles native, Selberg graduated from UCLA and spent three seasons with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and working as a studio musician before becoming principal cellist of the Edmonton Symphony. He was appointed principal cellist of the Utah Symphony in 1975, and also served on the faculty of the University of Utah. He was scheduled to perform the Dohnanyi Konzertuck with the orchestra in early August.

Etienne Vatelot, age 88. Noted French luthier, he began work with his father, also a luthier, at the age of 18. After serving in World War II, he studied in Mirecourt and Paris before winning a prize at the International String Instrument Competition at The Hague. In addition to doing work on instruments belonging to Yehudi Menuhin, Isaac Stern, Mistlav Rostropovich, and Yo-Yo Ma, he founded a lutherie school in Mirecourt and served as president of the Society for the Encouragement of Artistic Professions for 17 years as well as President of the French Association of String Instruments and Bow Makers.

August

Richard Angas, age 71. A native of Surrey, he was a chorister at the Royal School of Church Music before attending the Royal Academy of Music from 1960-64, winning the Kathleen Ferrier memorial scholarship and the Richard Tauber memorial prize in 1965. He made his professional debut in 1966 and his Royal Opera House debut in 1975, but spent most of his career at the English National Opera, where, amongst many other roles and several world premiers, he sang the title role in the Jonathan Miller production of The Mikado over 150 times. He collapsed during a rehearsal of Peter Grimes with Opera North.

Sidney Forrest, age 94. Born in Brooklyn, he studied with Simeon Bellison, principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic, before attending the Juilliard School and the University of Miami. He joined the US Marine Corp Band in 1941. In 1946, he joined the National Symphony as principal clarinet, as well as the faculty of the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where he remained until retiring in 1986. He also taught at the Catholic University of American, American University, and, for over 40 years, at the Interlochen Center for the Arts summer program. He made a number of recordings, including the Brahms trio with Bernard Greenhouse and Erno Balogh and the Mozart quintet with the Galimir Quartet.

John Grimes, age 66. Long-time timpanist active in the Boston freelance scene, Grimes studied at the University of Miami, the New England Conservatory, and the University of California at San Diego, studying timpai with Vic Firth and Cloyd Duff. He served at various times as timpanist with the orchestras of the Boston Baroque, the Handel & Haydn Society, the Boston Ballet, and the Boston Lyric Opera, as well as Orquesta Sinfónica de Venezuela. He was also vice-president of the Boston Musicians Association for many years, and received a standing ovation in absentia at the 2013 AFM Convention, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the United States Senate, for his advocacy of the rights of musicians and other workers.

Bob Lappin, age 78. After graduating from Ithaca College with a degree in piano, he toured widely as a Music Corporation of America artist. He left the music business in the late 1950s, beginning with ownership of a Pepsi bottling plant and ending with owning a string of bottling plants and radio stations.  He founded the Palm Beach Pops in 1991, and served as its music director until his death.

Maxim Janowsky, age 70. A native of Connecticut, he studied bass at the Tanglewood Institute, Interlochen Arts Camp, and the University of Hartford. He played in the Hartford Symphony (where his father was principal bass) for 4 years before joining the Detroit Symphony in 1964, where he served for 49 years. He was also known as an avid chef, receiving a degree from Cordon Bleu and studying at several other French cooking schools.

Lotfolla “Lotfi” Mansouri, age 84. Born in Tehran, Iran, he graduated from UCLA in 1953 with a degree in psychology and served on the pyschology faculty there from 1957-60. He began his career as a director of opera with a production of Così fan tutte at Los Angeles City College, and moved to Zurich to be resident stage director in 1960. He became general director of the Canadian Opera Company in 1971, leaving in 1988 to become general director of San Franciso Opera. While with with COC, he introduced the surtitle system in 1983 during a production of Electra, believed to be the first use of the system. During his tenure with SFO, the company commissioned many major new operas, including John Adam’s The Death of Klinghoffer and André Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire. He retired in 2001.

Michael Megahan, age 60. A native of Pennsylvania, he studied clarinet at Carnegie Mellon University and received his master’s degree from the University of Louisville, He joined the Louisville Orchestras as bass clarinet in 1979 and was appointed principal clarinet in 1982. He retired from the orchestra in 2002. He also played several international tours with the Pittsburgh Symphony, and also played in the Orquesta Symphony de Mineria in Mexico for many summers. After his retirement from the Louisville Orchestra, he worked with Music Theater Louisville as rehearsal accompanist and clarinetist.

Regina Resnik, age 90. A native of the Bronx, she was the daughter of Russian immigrants, she graduated from Hunter College in 1942, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1944 as a last-minute substitute for the lead role in Il Trovatore, the first of over 300 performances she sang with the Met, including several company and world premieres. Beginning her career as a soprano, she switched to mezzo-soprano roles at the suggestion of conductor Clemens Kraus in 1955. In addition to her association with the Met, she sang many performances at the San Francisco Opera and the Royal Opera House in London.

Toby Saks, age 71. Born in New York, she studied cello with Leonard Rose at the Juilliard School. She won acclaim at the Tchaikowsky Competition and the Casals Competition before winning the Young Concert Artist award in 1964. She joined the New York Philharmonic in 1971, but left in 1976 to join the faculty of the University of Washington. She was the founder and, for 30 years, the artistic director of the Seattle Chamber Music Society.

Dmitry Shebalin, age 83. Violist with the Borodin Quartet for more than 40 years, Shebalin graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1948 and joined the Borodin Quartet in 1953, succeeding founding violist Rudolf Barshai. He was on the faculty of the Moscow Conservatory from 1969 until his death. He was named People’s Artist of the USSR in 1975 and received the USSR State Prize in 1986.

September

Reid Bunger, age 78. A native of Chicago, he studied at Texas Christian University before winning a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the Vienna Academy. After serving in the US 7th Army Symphony, he joined the Vienna State Opera and sang 58 roles over a 20-year career as bass with the company, as well as performing internationally and at the Bayreuth Festival. He retired from in 1985 and returned to Texas, teaching at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Santo Caserta, age 102. Born in Connecticut, he studied violin within, amongst others, Leopold Auer and was a graduate of the Juilliard School. After an accident, he taught himself the cello. Prior to joining the cello section of the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1956, he had played with the Longines Symphony and the National Symphony. He retired in 1976 and was the oldest living retiree of the Philadelphia Orchestra at the time of his death.

James Decker, age 92. Born in Venice CA, he played horn in Leopold Stokowski’s National Youth Administration Orchestra  before joining the National Symphony in 1942. He played in the Los Angeles Philharmonic during the 1943-44 season and the Kansas City Symphony during the 1946-47 season. He returned to southern California in 1947 and was hired by Columbia Studios as principal horn. He was one of the founding members of the Glendale Symphony. He played on many of the recordings made by the Columbia Symphony with Bruno Walter and Igor Stravinsky. In addition to his recording work, he served as principal horn of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra during the Neville Marriner years, and taught horn at USC for 40 years.

Ray Dolby, age 80. Born in Portland OR, he grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. He earned a degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1957 and a PhD from the University of Cambridge. He worked for the United Nations before founding Dolby Laboratories in 1965, the same year he invented what became known as the Dolby Noise Reduction System, the use of which radically reduced noise on analog audio recordings.

Florencia Fabris, age 38. Born in Buenos Aires, she was a member of the children’s choir at Teatro Colón before attending Academia Nazionale Santa Cecilia in Rome. She sang many soprano roles throughout Argentina. She died two days after suffering a stroke during a performance of Verdi’s Requiem.

Eugene Frey, age 92. President of the Cincinnati Musicians Uni0n, AFM Local 1 for 52 years, he was born in Dayton OH and studied clarinet at the Cincinnati Conservatory before joining the Cincinnati Symphony in 1939, rejoining the orchestra after serving in the US Army during World War II. He left the orchestra in 1957 after being elected president of Local 1. He was one of the most highly regarded local officers in the AFM for decades, and served as well on the executive boards of both the Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council and Southwestern Ohio Blue Cross/Blue Shield, as well as serving at various times on the AFM International Executive Board and the Board of Trustees of the AFM-Employers Pension Fund.

Volker Grewel, age 48. Principal horn of the Beethovenhalle Orchestra in Bonn, he was also a favorite substitute player with the Berlin Philharmonic.

John Hopkins, age 86. Born in Yorkshire, he was assistant conductor of the BBC Scottish Orchestra from 1949 to 1952 and conductor of the BBC Northern Orchestra until 1957, when he moved to New Zealand to become music director of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. He moved to Australia in 1963 to become Federal Director of Music for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. After resigning in 1973 he became the first dean of the School of Music at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, moving to the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 1986.

Hans Landesmann, age 81. Born in Vienna to a Jewish family, he was sheltered by Hungarian monks during World War II. He studied chemistry at the Sorbonne and at Columbia University, but returned to Vienna in 1957 to take over the family business. He became secretary-general of the Vienna Konzerthaus in 1977. He became business director of the Salzburg Festival in 1989 and involved in hiring Gerard Mortier as artistic director after the death of Herbert von Karajan. After a falling-out with Mortier in 2001, he left the Festival and moved to the Vienna Festival, founding the Salzburg Biennale in 2009.

Denise Pineau, age 59.  Born in Boston, she received music degrees from Wheaton College and Boston University. She worked for Columbia Artists Management Inc. for 16 years, the last eight as vice-president, after beginning her career managing the music department of Barnes & Noble. She was active as a singer throughout her life, and was a founding member of the Baldwin Festival Chorus in New York.

Felicity Smith, age 33. A native of New Zealand, she earned a Master’s degree in musicology from the New Zealand School of Music before further study at the Royal College of Music. A mezzo-soprano interested in both early and contemporary music, she sang a series of Bach cantatas with Helmut Rilling for Musikfest Stuttgart, and was scheduled to sing Berio’s Folk Songs with the London Philharmonic in Berlin.

Tatiana Stoklitskaya, age 75. A professor of ear training at the Moscow Conservatory, she taught many Russian instrumentalists, including Mikhail Pletnve, Maxim Vengerev, and Vladimir Felstman. She was murdered in her Moscow apartment in what may have been a robbery.

Ivan Zugelj, age 66. Born in Pennsylvania, he graduated from Duquesne University before joining the bass section of the Atlanta Symphony in 1970. He became co-principal bass of the Charlotte Symphony in 1974, a position he held until his death. He also served as president of AFM Local 342 in Charlotte, and was an avocational astronomer.

October

Patrice Chéreau, age age 69. Regarded as a theater prodigy during his high school years, he studied at the Sorbonne before being appointed artistic director of the Public-Theatre in a Paris suburb. He staged his first opera, L’italiana in Algeri, for the Spoleto Festival. He staged Wagner’s Ring Cycle at the Bayreuth Festival in 1976, a production conducted by Pierre Boulez and filmed for television in 1980, which led to directing engagements throughout the opera world. He also directed a number of films, including La Reine Margot and Intimacy.

Anne Collis, Born in Lancashire in the early 1940s, Collis studied percussion at the Royal Academy of Music and became a pioneer as a female freelance percussion player in the London freelance scene in the 1960s. She went into management in 1969, eventually becoming managing and artistic director of the National Symphony Orchestra (UK). She wrote a number of compositions for full orchestra, the first of which was premiered in 1995, as well as chamber music and incidental music for a BBC production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.

Richard Holland, age 68. Born in Yonkers, he grew up on a chicken farm in New Hampshire. After study viola at the New England Conservatory and the New School in Philadelphia, he joined the USAF Strolling Strings. He joined the Pittsburgh Symphony in 1972, retiring in 2006. He was an avid motorcyclist, touring throughout the US and Mexico.

Ralph Jones, age 68. Principal bass of the Atlanta Symphony from 1977 through his retirement in 2013, Jones joined the orchestra in 1970. He was a native of Illinois and studied with Henry Loew, principal bass of the St. Louis Symphony, before studying at the University of Tulsa. In addition to being an active teacher, he also played principal bass for the Chautauqua Institute.

Wilson Oscar Moorman III, age 73. A native of Newark NJ, he studied percussion at the Juilliard School as a student of Saul Goodman while also freelancing in Newark as a jazz musician. Although he spent the latter part of his career as a New York freelancer, he played at various times with many American orchestras, including the North Carolina Symphony, the Santa Fe Opera orchestra, Dance Theater of Harlem, the New Jersey Symphony, and Symphony of the New World. In addition to his orchestral work, he toured with Tom Jones, Stevie Wonder, and Marvin Gaye.

Bernard Sanchez, age 78. Former principal trumpet of the Toledo Symphony and president of AFM Local 15-286, Sanchez was born in New Orleans and studied at Louisiana State University and the University of Louisville. He joined the Toledo Symphony in 1960 after a stint in the US Army. He also taught at the University of Toledo, at one point serving as chair of the music department.

Rubin Sher, age 96. A native of Louisville, he attended the Juilliard School and received degrees from the Louisville School of Music and Butler University before serving in the US Army during World War II as a chaplain’s assistant and, at one point, accepting the surrender of more than 100 German soldiers when he found himself in the same foxhole with 2 German officers. He was a violinist with the Louisville Symphony for more than 30 years and founded the Louisville Youth Orchestra and the Floyd County Youth Symphony, as well as conducting the Jewish Community Orchestra.

Lawrence Leighton Smith, age 77. Noted American conductor, he won first prize in the Mitropoulos Competition in 1964 and began his professional career as assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera in 1964. At various times, he served as music director of the Austin, Symphony, the Oregon Symphony, the San Antonio Symphony, and the Louisville Orchestra, as well as holding principal guest or artistic adviser positions with the Phoenix Symphony and the New Jersey Symphony. He guest-conducted most of the major American orchestras, and recorded extensively. A pianist as well, he accompanied a long list of major artists and recorded the complete works for two pianos by Busoni with Daniell Revenaugh. In 20013 he became the first music director of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, which formed after the bankruptcy of the Colorado Springs Symphony.

Andrew Thompson, age 27. A native of St. Louis, he played in the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra before studying at DePaul University and the England Conservatory of Music. He played with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and subbed with the Chicago Symphony before joining the St. Louis Symphony as contrabassoonist in 2012, replacing the retiring Brad Buckley.

November

William Adam, age 96. Professor of trumpet at the Jacobs School at Indiana University for 42 years, he was born in Kansas City but grew up in Fort Collins CO. His first studies were with Ben Foltz, cornetist with the John Philip Sousa Band. He began his professional career at 16 freelancing in Los Angeles. He played several years with the Denver Symphony before leaving to study at the Eastman School, receiving a master’s degreein 1947.

Alfred Brown, age 84. One of the first African-American musicians to be hired by an American professional orchestra, he studied violin and viola at the Eastman School and the Curtis Institute (where his teachers were William Primrose and Karen Tuttle) before being hired by Arturo Toscanini for his NBC Radio Orchestra. He was a founding member of the Symphony of the New World. He became an active New York freelancer, winning the Most Valuable Player award from NARAS in 1984, and produced albums by Lena Horne in addition to touring with Ray Charles, Paul Simon, Luther Vandross and Barbra Streisand.

Matthew Bucksbaum, age 87. Born in Iowa, he founded a company that developed and managed shopping malls throughout the US. He was chair of the board of directors of the Aspen School of Music from 1999 to 2002, and donated $25 million to for the construction of a new campus for the school. He and his wife also endowed the school’s “New Horizons “program, which pays for 30 students to attend the school for three summers.

Shirley Frederic, age 89. A member of the San Antonio Symphony for 46 years, she retired from the orchestra in 1991 as principal second violin. A native of New York City, she began her professional career after graduating from high school during World War II as a musician for the USO, playing for troops serving in North Africa. She also played for many years with Santa Fe Opera and the Grand Tetons Music Festival.

Samuel Kang, age 83. A native of South Korea, Kang came to the US in 1953 to study viola at the New England Conservatory. He joined the Pittsburgh Symphony in 1962. After his retirement in 1996, he moved back to South Korea for a period to teach.

Edward Kleinhammer, age 94. Bass trombonist with the Chicago Symphony for 45 years, he was a native of Chicago whose tenure with the CSO was interrupted by service in the US Army during World War II. After having begun violin studies, he switched in junior high school to the trombone, studying with CSO trombonist David Anderson. He was the author or co-author of several books on trombone playing., and received a patent for a device that extended the range of the bass trombone downwards.

Kermit Moore, age 84. Principal cellist and a founding member of the Symphony of the New World, he was born in Akron OH and studied cello at the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Juilliard School and the Paris Conservatory, as well as earning a master’s degree from New York University. Amongst his teachers were Felix Salmond, Gregor Piatigorsky, Pablo Casals, and Nadia Boulanger. In addition to his work with the Symphony of the New World as serving as principal cello of the Hartford Symphony, he concertized widely as a soloist and recitalist with a particular interest in 20th-century music in addition to recording extensively. He was also a conductor and composer, and wrote the soundtrack for the 1984 PBS documentary Solomon Northrup’s Odyssey.

Elke Neidhardt, age 72. Noted Australian opera and theater director, she was a native of Germany and originally an actor. She directed the first modern Australian production of Wagner’s Ring cycle in 2004. She was resident director of Opera Australia for 13 years before returning to Germany in 1990, where she worked at the Cologne State Opera for six years.

Yechiam Peled, age 67. Principal piccolo of the Israel Opera Orchestra, he also served as head of the orchestra’s union. He is featured on many YouTube videos and was active as a recording musician.

Conrad Susa, age 78. Known for his operas, he was a native of Pennsylvania and studied at Carnegie Institute of Technology and the Juilliard School. He served as composer in residence at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego from 1959 to 1994, and wrote incidental music for various Broadway productions as well. He joined the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory in 1998 as chair of the composition department. His opera The Dangerous Liaisons was premiered by the San Francisco Opera in 1994 with a cast including Thomas Hampson, Frederica von State and Renée Fleming.

John Tavener, age 69. A native of London, he studied singing and piano at Highgate School and the Royal Academy of Music. His cantata The Whale was premiered at the opening concert of the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London and subsequently recorded by Apple Records, the Beatles’ label. Much of his later music was influenced by his conversion to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1977. He was knighted in 2000.

December

Martin Berkofsky, age 69. A native of Washington DC, he was known for his performances of the works of Alan Hovhaness and recordings he made of concerti for two pianos by Bruch and Mendelssohn and transcriptions by Bruch and Reger.

Winton Dean, age 97. English musicologist best known for his research on the life and works of George Frideric Handel, he graduated from the University of Cambridge and served in the Royal Navy during World War II. A noted critic as well, he was commissioned by the New Grove Dictionary of Music to write the entry on music criticism.

Barbara Hesse-Bukowski, age 83. Third prize winner in the 1949 International Chopin Competition, she was a native of Poland who studied with Arthur Rubenstein in Paris before beginning an international performing and recording career. She served on the faculty of the Fryderyk Chopin Music Academy since 1973.

Catherine Lange-Jensen, age 55. A native of St. Louis, she studied with Josef Gingold at Indiana University, as well as at Tanglewood Music Center. She was assistant, and then associate, principal second violin for 29 years, as well as a member of the faculty of Northern Kentucky University and a founding member of the Rhine Quartet, NKU quartet-in-residence.

Maria Lidka, age 99. Born to a Jewish family in Berlin, she studied violin with Josef Wolfsthal and Max Rostal. She emigrated to London in 1934 and made her Wigmore Hall debut in 1939, accompanied by Gerald Moore. She played in the Czech Trio with Walter Susskind and Karel Horitz. Classified as an enemy alien during World War II, she narrowly survived the bombing of her house by being arrested that evening for breaking curfew and spending the night in jail. She was regarded as a proponent of contemporary music, performed the premiere of Michael Tippet’s Fantasia Concertante at the Edinburgh Festival in 1953 and the premiere of Richard Rodney Bennett’s Lyric Piece in 1951, as well as performing regularly on the BBC and touring internationally. She taught at the Royal College of Music from 1968 to 1985.

János Négyesy, age 75. A native of Budapest, he studied violin at the Franz Lizst Academy before moving to Germany to become concertmaster of the Berlin Radio Orchestra in 1970. He joined the faculty of the University of California in San Diego in 1979. He made many recordings, including the first European recording of the violin sonatas of Charles Ives and works of John Cage.

Brian Pollard, age 83. Principal bassoon of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra from 1953 to 1995, Pollard was a native of England. He was a founding member of the Danzi Quintet, a Dutch group active in the 1960s and 1970s, which gave the Dutch premiere of Arnold Schoenberg’s wind quintet, as well as premieres of several Dutch composers.

Marvin Rabin, age 97. Born in South Bend IN, he studied viola before joining the US Army Air Force as a flight instructor during World War II. He received a master’s degree from the Eastman School. He led numerous youth orchestras during his career, including the Central Kentucky Youth Symphony and the Greater Boston Youth Symphony, performing for John F. Kennedy at the White House. He moved to Madison WI in 1966 to found the Wisconsin Youth Symphony. He guest-conducted youth orchestras in 48 states as well as youth orchestras in Canada, Asia, Europe and South America.

Tatiana Tchekina, age 69. A native of Moscow, she had been assistant professor of accompanying at the Eastman School from 2002. She and her husband, violinist Oleh Krysa, toured extensively through the former Soviet Union, Europe, Asia, and the United States. She served as official accompanist at the David Oistrakh Competition in 2004 and the Qingdao Competition in 2008. She was killed in an automobile accident on I-490 near Rochester by a wrong-way driver.

Tze-Koong Wang. A native of New York City, he moved to Los Angeles as a child and began studying violin at age 9. He earned a BA and and MA from USC before joining the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1963, retiring in 2004 after 41 years with the orchestra. He was an active chamber musician with an interest in new music, and was the violin soloist for the first LA Philharmonic performance of the Bach double concerto for violin and oboe.

John White, age 75. Founding violist of the Alberni Quartet, he was a Yorkshire native from a mining family. He began his studies with his father, an amateur violinist, and, after serving in the regimental band of the Coldstream Guards for two years, attended the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied with Watson Forbes. After leaving the Alberni Quartet in 1968, he freelanced in London as an orchestral violist, and performed several premieres of solo works for viola. In addition to teaching at the Royal Academy for many years, he founded both the Brentwood Youth Orchestra and the Medway Youth Orchestra and, in 1984, began working with the European Community Youth Orchestra. He wrote a biography of Lionel Tertis and edited a great deal of music for viola.

Ambrose Yeung, age 39. Personnel manager of the Hong Kong Philharmonic for 15 years, he died shortly after a morning badminton game with two of the orchestra’s musicians. The HKPO cancelled that evening’s concert, and dedicated the rest of the subscription series to his memory.