Conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, has died at age 93.

Stanisław Skrowaczewski (October 3, 1923 – February 21, 2017) was a Polish-American classical conductor and composer. Skrowaczewski was born in Lwów (then in Poland, now in Ukraine). As a child, he studied piano and violin; displaying talent on the piano at an early age, he made his public debut playing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor. A hand injury ended his piano career. After World War II, Skrowaczewski graduated from the Academy of Music in Kraków (in the composition class of Roman Palester and conducting class of Walerian Bierdiajew) and soon, in 1946, became the music director of the Wrocław Philharmonic, then the Katowice Philharmonic, the Kraków Philharmonic and finally the Warsaw National Orchestra. He studied composition with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. In 1956 he won the Santa Cecilia Competition for Conductors. At the invitation of George Szell, Skrowaczewski conducted the Cleveland Orchestra. In 1960 he was appointed music director of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (later renamed the Minnesota Orchestra under his tenure in 1968), a position he held until 1979 when he became conductor laureate. In 1981 the American Composers Forum commissioned the Clarinet Concerto which Skrowaczewski wrote for Minnesota Orchestra principal clarinetist Joe Longo, who premiered it in 1981.WIKIPEDIA

Nicolai Gedda has died, aged 91

....on January 8, 2017...of the great Swedish tenor, one of the most lasting ornaments of the opera stage. He was a fixture of the international opera calendar from 1952 to his retirement in 2003. - See more at: http://slippedisc.com/2017/02/nicolai-gedda-has-died-aged-91/#sthash.c284BAQP.dpuf Nicolai Gedda (born Harry Gustaf Nikolai Gädda) (11 July 1925 – 8 January 2017) was a Swedish operatic tenor. Debuting in 1952, Gedda had a long and successful career in opera until the age of 77 in June 2003, when he made his final operatic recording. Skilled at languages, he performed operas in French, Russian, German, Italian, English, Czech, and Swedish; as well as one in Latin. In January 1958, he created the part of Anatol in the world premiere of the American opera Vanessa at the Metropolitan Opera. Having made some two hundred recordings, Gedda is one of the most widely recorded opera singers in history...over 200. His singing is best known for its beauty of tone, vocal control, and musical perception. WIKIPEDIA VIDEO...Nicolai and Tania Gedda in Lippen schweigen, The Merry Widow

Matilde Capuis, (1 January 1913 – 31 January 2017)

Matilde Margherita Mary Capuis was an Italian organist, pianist, music educator and composer. She was born in Naples and studied in Venice with Gabriele Bianchi and at the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory in Florence.

 After completing her studies, she took a position at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi of Turin where she became chair of theory and then composition. For many years she performed in a duo with cellist Hugh Attilio Scabia.

 Capuis died on 31 January 2017 at the age of 104.

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Gervase Alan de Peyer (11 April 1926 – 4 February 2017) was an English clarinetist and conductor.

De Peyer was born in London and attended Bedales School. He was awarded a scholarship to the Royal College of Music where he studied clarinet with Frederick Thurston and piano with Arthur Alexander. Towards the end of World War II, when he was aged 18, he joined the Royal Marines Band Service. De Peyer returned to the Royal College of Music after the war and subsequently studied in Paris with Louis Cahuzac.

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Walter Hautzig (Hebrew: ולטר האוציג‎‎; September 28, 1921 – January 30, 2017) was a pianist born in Vienna, Austria.

Walter Hautzig, Pianist Whose Talent Helped Him Flee Nazis, Dies at 95 Mr. Hautzig, who settled in the United States, went on to perform around the world as a good-will ambassador. The Austrian-born American pianist and teacher, Walter Hautzig, studied at Public and High School in Vienna, and the Vienna Academy of Music. He left Austria after the rise of the Nazis to power, and went to Jerusalem and studied at the Conservatory there. In 1939 he came to the U.S.A., continued his musical education at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia with Harry Kaufmann and Mieczysław Munz... graduating with honours. He also studied privately in New York with Artur Schnabel. In 1943 he won the Town Hall Endowment Award in New York. WIKIPEDIA VIDEO: My grandfather's incredible story and life (so far) condensed into 9 minutes...ENJOY! *Winner of a silver key in the Scholastic Art & Writing Competition* Animated, narrated, and edited by Molly DeVries Music composed by Frederic Chopin, performed by Walter Hautzig