Janos Starker, A Master Of The Cello, Dies At 88

Cellist Janos Starker has died at 88, ending a life and career that saw him renowned for his skills as a soloist, his prodigious work with orchestras, and his commitment to teaching. Starker was born in Budapest in 1924; his path to becoming an international star included surviving life in a Nazi labor camp. NPR | Wikipedia

Don Shirley, Pianist With His Own Genre, Dies at 86

Donald Shirley, a pianist and composer who gathered classical music with jazz and other forms of popular music under a singular umbrella after being discouraged from pursuing a classical career because he was black, died on April 6 at his home in Manhattan. He was 86. Don Shirley (born January 29, 1927)was an American-Jamaican jazz pianist and composer. Shirley's prodigious piano skills were recognized early and Shirley began his career as a composer and virtuoso performer at a young age. Don Shirley's music is hard to categorize. It is possible to say that as an arranger-composer he treats each piece of music as a new composition, not just an arrangement. Don plays Standards in a non-standard way. He is a virtuoso, playing everything from show tunes, to ballads, to his personal arrangements of Negro spirituals, to jazz, and always with the overtone of a classically-trained musician who has utmost respect for the music he is playing. NYTimes Obit | Wikipedia

George Beverly Shea, Billy Graham’s Singer, Dies at 104

Bev Shea, left with Billy Graham

George Beverly Shea, who escaped a life of toil in an insurance office to become a Grammy-winning gospel singer — and who was known in particular for his long association with the Rev. Billy Graham — 
died on Tuesday [16 APR 2013] in Asheville, N.C. 
He was 104.

NYTimes Obit | Wikipedia

RECORDINGS: George Beverly Shea

David Burge, an American pianist and composer known as an indefatigable champion of 20th-century music, died on April 1 in Warwick, R.I. He was 83.

A longtime faculty member of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, Mr. Burge (his surname rhymes with “verge”) performed from the 1950s onward on some of the world’s most renowned concert stages. From his earliest appearances, his recital programs — novel, ambitious and technically rigorous — consisted almost entirely of contemporary works. 

NYTimes Obit | Wikipedia

London Symphony conductor Colin Davis dies at 85

 Colin Davis, the former principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and one of Britain's elder statesmen of classical music, has died at 85.

The orchestra said Davis died Sunday after a short illness.

One of the best-known figures in British music, Davis worked with the London symphony for more than half a century.

He first conducted for the LSO in 1959 and took the principal conductor post in 1995, serving until 2006 before becoming president.

The orchestra said Davis had been "at the head of the LSO family for many years."

Wikipedia

Maria Tallchief, Who Dazzled at the Ballet, Dies at 88

Maria Tallchief, a daughter of an Oklahoma oil family who grew up on an Indian reservation, found her way to New York and became one of the most brilliant American ballerinas of the 20th century, died on Thursday in Chicago. She was 88. NYTimes Obit

Elizabeth Maria Tallchief (January 24, 1925 - April 11, 2013) was the first Native American to become prima ballerina of a major company. From 1942 to 1947 she danced with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, but she is even better known for her time with the New York City Ballet, from its founding in 1947 through 1965. Known professionally as Maria Tallchief, her family called her Betty Marie. Betty learned the Osage traditions from her grandmother, Eliza Bigheart Tallchief. Maria was the sister of notable ballerina Marjorie Tallchief. We support Wikipedia.