Eri Klas (7 June 1939 – 26 February 2016) was an Estonian conductor

 Eri Klas was born in Tallinn. Klas mainly worked in Norway, but might be best known for his work leading the defunct Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra. He premiered Alfred Schnittke's 1st Cello Concerto (Munich Philharmonic, 1986) and Peer Gynt ballet (Hamburg State Opera, 1989), and worked on the diffusion of the Estonian symphonic repertory. He was also active as a pedagogue, holding professorships at the Sibelius Academy (1993–97) and the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (1997 until his death), where he received an honorary doctorate. Klas was decorated with the Order of the Lion of Finland (1992, on the occasion of Finland's 75th Independence Day) and the Order of the White Star. He was a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. In 1986, he was named a People's Artist of the USSR. An Estonian lightweight junior boxing champion, he was also a member of the Estonian Olympic Committee. Slipped Disc VIDEO:

Howard Quilling, classical composer with an international reputation is dead

Howard Quilling taught music composition and theory at Bakersfield College for 25 years, retiring in 1996. Despite his long career in education, he managed to compose some 250 pieces of music in his lifetime, his wife estimated. Read more: http://www.celebritiesdeaths.com/2016/02/obituary-howard-quilling-prolific.html#ixzz41aORUZ5c Read more: http://www.celebritiesdeaths.com/2016/02/obituary-howard-quilling-prolific.html#ixzz41aOGGwWS CELEBRITIES DEATHS Bio

 VIDEO: Recording session footage of Howard Quilling's "Diversion" Recorded September 6, 2011 in Olomouc, Czech Republic with the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Petr Vronský
 

Otto-Werner Mueller (23 June 1926 – 25 February 2016) was a German-born conductor.

Otto-Werner Mueller was a professor of conducting at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia... Mueller was born in Bensheim, Germany. After being pardoned by the Allied Forces Tribunal in Germany following World War II, he performed in Montreal night clubs with Maurice Chevalier. His first professional work in Canada was as a composer for the Canadian Broadcasting Company, writing music for daytime soap operas. Among his appointments were at the Juilliard School of Music in New York, the Yale School of Music in New Haven, Connecticut, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Victoria School of Music in British Columbia. Some of his notable students include conductors Alan Gilbert, Alasdair Neale, Robert Hart Baker, Gary Fagin, David Hayes, Sarah Ioannides, Paavo Järvi, Jere Lance, Jahja Ling, André Raphel, Kaye George Roberts, Richard Rosenberg, Ignat Solzhenitsyn and Ransom Wilson. He was also an opera repertory coach for mezzo-soprano Huguette Tourangeau and soprano Colette Boky. Mueller died in Charlotte, North Carolina, on 25 February 2016 at the age of 89.

 VIDEO: Daniel Wachs (Piano '98) remembers his first glimpse of Otto-Werner Mueller leading the Curtis orchestra. 

Pascal Bentoiu (22 April 1927 – 21 February 2016) was a Romanian modernist composer.

Bentoiu studied harmony, counterpoint and composition with Mihail Jora and piano with Theophil Demetriescu. He spent three years researching the rhythm and harmony of Romanian folk music at the Bucharest Folklore Institute and then began composing for the stage. His operas are written with dramatic flair and make use of a variety of elements, including folksong, tape, serialism and diatonic qualities. His instrumental and orchestral works also contain a variety of contemporary techniques, and Bentoiu's work is characterized by its color and lyricism. He has edited the sketches of the fourth (1934) and fifth (1941) symphonies of Georges Enescu into shape for performance.[1] (There is a recording of both realizations from a 1998 festival.) Bentoiu died on 21 February 2016 at the age of 88. WIKIPEDIA Pascal Bentoiu (22 April 1927 – 21 February 2016) was a Romanian modernist composer.

 VIDEO: Pascal Bentoiu, Piano Concerto Nr. 2 Op. 12. Iasi Philharmonic Orchestra, Romania. Mihaei Ungureanu - Piano, Valentin Doni - Conductor.
 

Jack Feierman, Conductor and Musical Director, Dies at 91

Jack Feierman, who was musical director for Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme and a conductor for Johnny Mathis, Sergio Mendez, Jose Feliciano, the Osmonds, the Lennon Sisters, Frank Sinatra and 
Natalie Cole, died at his Sherman Oaks, Calif., home on Tuesday, January 19. He was 91. He has also played trumpet for numerous TV shows, recordings and movies, besides playing with the Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, Billy May bands and was first trumpet with the Count Basie Band. High points of his career included the Frank Sinatra Diamond Jubilee, world tours with Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme. VARIETY

 VIDEO: Jack Feireman has taught conducting Technique classes at UCLA, the legendary Dick Grove School of Music (where a lot of TV and Film Scoring Composers learned their craft from many legendary teachers such as Clare Fischer, Allyn Ferguson, Rob McConnell, Mundell Lowe, etc.) He has conducted for many television, movie and concert dates. His no nonsense method is used by many of those in the Film, TV and Recording Industry as well as musical directors around the world.

 

Cellist Gwyneth George was 95

Gwyneth George, the cellist, who has died aged 95, was heard in British concert halls during the 1960s and 1970s; she formed a successful partnership with the Argentinian pianist Alberto Portugheis and in 1979 gave the premiere of the Five Nocturnes and Cadenzas that were written for her by the Welsh composer Alun Hoddinott. Her only commercial disc, of cello sonatas by Rachmaninov and Shostakovich accompanied by Portugheis for the Unicorn label in 1971. The Welsh cellist Gwyneth George, born in Swansea, was both a scholarship and prize winner at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

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Louis Lane (December 25, 1923 – February 15, 2016) was an American conductor.

 Louis Gardner Lane was born in Eagle Pass, Texas. He studied composition with Kent Kennan at the University of Texas at Austin where he earned his bachelor’s in music degree in 1943, and with Bohuslav Martinů at the Tanglewood Music Center (summer 1946), and with Bernard Rogers at the Eastman School of Music (master’s degree in music, 1947). He also studied opera with Sarah Caldwell (1950). He was apprentice conductor to George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra in 1947. He became assistant conductor there 1955-1960 and associate conductor 1960-1970 and resident conductor 1970-1973. A comment made by George Szell to Lane in 1957 about the eccentric pianist Glenn Gould became quite famous: “That nut’s a genius”. Gould requested Lane to accompany his subsequent performances in Cleveland, and Lane’s Canadian conducting debut was made in 1960 at the Vancouver Festival with Gould. Lane’s programming with the Cleveland Orchestra led to his receiving two major awards, the Mahler Medal and the Ditson Conductor's Award. He was music director of the Akron Symphony Orchestra 1959-1983 (later becoming their conductor emeritus) and the Lake Erie Opera Theatre 1964-1972. He was principal guest conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and held other positions with that group 1973-1978. He is given credit for developing that orchestra into a full-time group with a 52-week contract. He was co-conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra 1977-1983. He was also principal guest conductor 1982-1983 and principal conductor 1984-1985 of the National Symphony Orchestra of the South African Broadcasting Corporation based in Johannesburg. more WIKIPEDIA

 VIDEO: Respighi - The Birds...Atlanta Symphony Orchestra - Louis Lane conductor 

Steven Stucky, Composer

Steven Stucky, Composer Who Won a Pulitzer, Dies at 66

 Mr. Stucky was associated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as composer in residence for more than 20 years. NYTimes Obit

 Stucky was born in Hutchinson, Kansas. At age 9, he moved with his family to Abilene, Texas, where, as a teenager, he studied music in the public schools and, privately, viola with Herbert Preston, conducting with Leo Scheer, and composition with Macon Sumerlin. He attended Baylor University and Cornell. Stucky's principal composition teachers were Richard Willis, Robert Palmer, and Karel Husa; his principal conducting teacher was Daniel Sternberg. WIKIPEDIA VIDEO: In the 2008-09 season Music Director Lorin Maazel and the Philharmonic are unveiling three brand-new works commissioned by the Orchestra from three composers. Composer Steven Stucky reveals how the limitations put on commissions can spur creativity. Learn about the story behind his Rhapsodies for Orchestra. (Premiering in concerts on September 18-20 23, 2008)
 

Ulf Söderblom (5 February 1930 – 4 February 2016)

Ulf Söderblom was a Finnish conductor and music professor. He was the Principal Conductor of the Finnish National Opera from 1973 to 1993 and was a key figure in the revival of the Savonlinna Opera Festival. A champion of Finnish music, he has conducted the world premieres of several works by Finnish composers including Kokkonen's The Last Temptations and Sallinen's Kullervo and The Horseman. WIKIPEDIA

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Leslie Bassett, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Composer, Dies at 93

Known for his lush sonorities and ecumenical instrumentation, Mr. Basset wrote for orchestras, chamber and choral ensembles and solo instruments. NYTimes Obit | Official website

Leslie Bassett (January 22, 1923 – February 4, 2016) was an American composer of classical music, and the University of Michigan's Albert A. Stanley Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Composition. Bassett received the 1966 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his Variations for Orchestra. He studied composition with Homer Keller at the University of Michigan. He was a member of the Gamma Pi chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia at California State University-Fresno, 1942. Bassett died at the age of 93 on February 4, 2016 at his home in Flowery Branch, Georgia.

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Saulius Sondeckis (11 October 1928 – 3 February 2016)

 Saulius Sondeckis was a Lithuanian violinist, conductor, orchestra leader and professor. He founded the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra in 1960 and was its artistic director and principal conductor until 2004. WIKIPEDIA VIDEO: