Jan Henrik Kayser (born February 20, 1933 in Bergen , died April 24, 2016 ) was a Norwegian pianist .

 He received his education at the music conservatory in Bergen and Music Academy in Vienna and debuted in 1953 with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra . He won the Princess Astrid Music Prize in 1961 and got Grieg Price with Anne Bolstad and Find Nielsen in 1978. He has collaborated with Harald Sæverud for almost 40 years, which in 1997 led to the release of a richly illustrated book about Sæverud and his piano music. In addition to being Sæverud student, he was also his partner, and they held many concerts together where Sæverud told about music Kayser played.  Kayser has had an international career and held concerts in the United States, China and Russia in addition to a lot of activity in Europe, where he has played with, among others, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Prague Symphony Orchestra. He is awarded the King's Medal of Merit in gold .

 VIDEO: Harald Sæverud - Tunes and Dances from Siljustol, Suite No. 1, Op. 21 - Jan Henrik Kayser..Rec. 1976 (Nacka Aula, Nacka, Sweden) . 

Guy Anthony Woolfenden OBE (12 July 1937 – 15 April 2016) was an English composer and conductor.

Guy Woolfenden was born in Ipswich and educated at Westminster Abbey Choir School, London, and Whitgift School, Croydon. He studied music at Christ's College in Cambridge and went on to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1961 and was Head of Music from 1963 to 1998. He was Artistic Director of the Cambridge Festival from 1986 to 1991. In 1995 he was a founder director of the English Music Festival which became the Stratford on Avon Music Festival. . He was the Chairman of the Denne Gilkes Memorial Fund, a charity which supports young musicians and actors. He was the founder of the publishing company, Ariel Music. Woolfenden married Jane Aldrick in 1962 and they had three sons. WIKIPEDIA

 VIDEO: Firedance, by composer Guy Woolfenden, was originally commissioned by Warwick Castle for one of its celebrated annual fireworks concerts – the first performance was given by the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Martyn Brabbins on July 1st 2000. Keith Allen, Music Director of Birmingham Symphonic Winds was present at that performance at Warwick Castle and commissioned a new arrangement for BSW’s 10th anniversary concert at the CBSO Centre, Birmingham on November 16th 2002, when it was conducted Wollfenden.

 

Brian Asawa (October 1, 1966 – April 18, 2016)

Brian Asawa was a Japanese-American countertenor. "In his prime", according to Opera News, "Asawa was an electric performer, his fearless performing style supported by a voice of arresting beauty and expressivity". Brian Asawa's discography includes four solo recital discs ranging from Dowland and Edmund Campion to Rachmaninoff and Ned Rorem. Opera recordings include Farnace in Mitridate for Decca, Arsamene in Serse for Conifer and Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream for Philips with the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Colin Davis. Asawa also appeared on DVD in Ligeti's "Le Grand Macabre" Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, Monteverdi's "Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria" Opus Arte, Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov" Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, and Stravinsky's "The Rake's Progress" Kultur, as well as both a CD and DVD release of Handel's "Messiah" directed by Marc Minkowski. In 2014, Asawa and mezzo soprano Diana Tash released an album of duets on the LML Music label that included works by Handel, Monteverdi, Purcell, A. Scarlatti, and Marco da Gagliano. WIKIPEDIA VIDEO:

Royston Hulbert Nash (July 23, 1933 – April 4, 2016) was an English-born conductor, best known as a music director of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.

Royston Nash began as a conductor with the Royal Marines from 1957 to 1970. He then joined D'Oyly Carte, becoming Music Director from 1971 to 1979. There, he led the company during its centenary year in 1975 and issued a number of recordings, including the company's only recordings of Utopia, Limited, The Grand Duke, and The Zoo, as well as recordings of some rarely heard Sullivan music. He then moved to the United States, where he became musical director of the Nashua Symphony Orchestra and the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra until his retirement in 2007. He also founded and conducted Symphony by the Sea. WIKIPEDIA

Howard Reid Cable (December 15, 1920 – March 30, 2016) was a conductor, arranger, music director, composer, and radio and television producer. He was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Cable composed and arranged the original theme for the Hockey Night in Canada television broadcast, The Saturday Game which opened the broadcast from 1952 until 1968. His arrangement of Dolores Claman's "The Hockey Theme", which replaced his own composition in 1968, is the standard version, has been called "Canada's Second National Anthem". His Royal Conservatory arrangement of "The Hockey Theme" for piano is one of the best selling pieces of sheet music in Canada. Cable was conductor for the early CBC TV variety programs General Electric Showtime and Mr. Show Business. In addition he conducted and arranged music for various CBC radio and TV programs in the 1960s. From 1971 to 1985 he was host of the program Howard Cable Presents heard on St. Catharines radio station "CHRE-fm", and for most of the years it was the station's highest rated program. WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: Howard Cable rehearses his Banks of Newfoundland with the Wellington Winds October 2011 This rehearsal was in preparation for our performance of this great piece by Canadian treasure, Howard Cable.