Heather Slade-Lipkin, 26 March 1947 – 16 October 2017,was an English pianist, harpsichordist and teacher.

Heather Slade-Lipkin was born into a musical family from Hoylake, Wirral, and by the age of six had already begun formal piano lessons. She was soon winning many first Prizes at music festivals. She studied under Gordon Green, Clifton Helliwell, Kenneth Gilbert and Huguette Dreyfus. She served as piano lecturer at RNCM and visiting professor of piano at Chetham's School of Music. She won first prizes at the National Piano Competition and the National Harpsichord Competition, and was a finalist in the Paris International Fortepiano Competition. She appeared as a soloist for the CBSO and the BBC.

  WIKIPEDIA

Fedor Ivanovich Glushchenko was a Russian conductor and violinist.

August 15, 1944 – 16 October, 2017 He recorded numerous works of Frédéric Chopin, Giya Kancheli, Ippolitov-Ivanov and Aram Khachaturian which were published by Chandos, Hyperion and Olympia Records among other music labels. He is also a frequent participant of such festivals as Bratislava, Moscow, and Brno Music Festivals and a producer of Prokofiev's ballet called Romeo and Juliet which was performed at the Athens Festival in 1994. He also appeared with numerous well-known Russian musicians such as Daniil Shafran, Grigory Sokolov, Vladimir Spivakov and Maxim Vengerov of Russia as well as Gidon Kremer of Latvia and British Martino Tirimo. Between 1977 and 1987 he performed in various European cities such Russian Moscow and Saint Petersburg as well as German Berlin, Düsseldorf and Nurnberg ending with Dublin, Kraków and Sofia. From 1989 to 1994 he performed with various British orchestras such as both London and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic as well as English Chamber Orchestra and The Hallé orchestra in Manchester. From 1990 to 1991 Glushchenko became Istanbul State Opera conductor with which he performed in such European capitals as Berlin, Prague, Bratislava, Copenhagen, as well as Brno, in Italy. By 1997 he took charge of the Arturo Toscanini's orchestra and then became a leader of the RTVE Symphony Orchestra as well. WIKIPEDIA

Vincent La Selva (September 17, 1929 – October 9, 2017) Founder of a People's Opera Troupe, Dies at 88

Vincent La Selva died October 9, 2017 in Cleveland, Ohio. He was an American conductor. Born in Cleveland, who began performing at the age of 8, and by the age of 12, he was conducting student performances. He received his bachelor's degree from the Juilliard School, where he has served on the faculty since 1969. After his graduation from Juilliard, he served in the United States Army, where he conducted the First Army band at Fort Jay on Governor's Island. His idea of presenting free productions began in 1954, when he founded the Xavier Symphony Society, made up of volunteer performers. Gian-Carlo Menotti was so taken by La Selva's performance of The Saint of Bleecker Street, that Menotti had La Selva perform the piece at New York's City Opera. This led to his being hired to conduct the City Opera's orchestra full-time. WIKIPEDIA

Zuzana Růžičková

Zuzana Růžičková (Czech pronunciation: [ˈzuzana ˈruːʒɪt͡ʃkovaː]) (14 January 1927 – 27 September 2017) was an award-winning harpsichordist, whose work garnered acclaim around the world. Born in Czechoslovakia, where she lived her entire life, Růžičková was an interpreter of classical and baroque music. Růžičková was the wife of Czech composer Viktor Kalabis. She was the first harpsichordist to record J. S. Bach's complete works for keyboard. These recordings were made over ten years in the 1960s and 1970s for Erato Records, and were remastered and newly released in 2016 by Warner Records/Erato.As a teenager, Růžičková was imprisoned in the Nazi concentration camps of Terezin and Auschwitz, and was then transported to the Bergen-Belsen death camp. She was liberated in April 1945 and returned to Plzeň later that year. Růžičková and Kalabis both refused to join the Communist regime of Czechoslovakia which held power from 1948-89 and were consistently harassed as a result. Růžičková performed across the world for 50 years; she made over 100 records; and taught such prominent musicians as Christopher Hogwood, Ketil Haugsand, Jaroslav Tůma, Monika Knoblochová, Vaclav Luks, and Mahan Esfahani. (WIKIPEDIA)

Caesar Giovannini (February 26, 1925 – September 23, 2017) was an American pianist

He was also a band arranger and composer. Born in Chicago Illinois, Giovannini began piano studies as a child. He attended the Alfred Nobel Grammar School in Chicago and the Lane Technical High School. He graduated from the Chicago Conservatory of Music in 1948 with a Bachelor of Music and a master's degree in composition. During World War II he was appointed pianist for the US Navy Band in Washington, DC. From 1949 to 1956 he joined NBC in Chicago and gained fame through appearances on the Dave Garroway and Ransom Sherman shows. During 1956 and 1957 he was music director for the Kukla, Fran and Ollie television show. In 1958 he joined ABC Chicago. His instrumental compositions for Concert Band include Alla Barocco, El Torero, Overture in B-Flat, Overture to a New Era, and Chorale and Capriccio (with orchestrations by Wayne Robinson). From 1961 to 1976, he played piano on many movie soundtracks including The World of Henry Orient (1964), Wait Until Dark (1967), The Fox (1967), The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), Shaft's Big Score (1972) and Raid on Entebbe (1976). WIKIPEDIA

Opera star...to Hollywood stardom... Anne Jeffreys, Is Dead at 94

Anne Jeffreys became a member of the New York Municipal Opera Company on a scholarship and sang the lead at Carnegie Hall in such things as La bohème, Traviata, and Pagliacci. Her plans for an operatic career were sidelined when she was cast in a staged musical review, Fun for the Money. Her appearance in that revue led to her being cast in her first movie role, in I Married an Angel (1942), starring Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. Anne Jeffreys (born Anne Carmichael; January 26, 1923 – September 27, 2017) was an American actress and singer.

  WIKIPEDIA | New Yok Times Obit

People's Artist of the USSR , Soprano Tsisana Tatishvili dies

23 September 2017, 79-year old famous opera singer, People's Artist of the USSR, Tsisana Tatishvili, died in Georgia, The Georgian National Opera and Ballet Theater of Tbilisi reports. "The Georgian National Opera and Ballet Theater of Tbilisi expresses deep sorrow and condoles to the family of the singer and the whole musical world," the message reads....http://vestnikkavkaza.net BIOGRAPHY

 VIDEO: Tsisana Tatishvili - Vissi d'arte - Tosca - Puccini

Brenda Lewis, Versatile American Soprano, Is Dead at 96

Brenda Lewis (born 2 March 1921, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania - died 17 September 2017, Westport , Conn.) was an American operatic soprano, musical theatre actress, opera director, and music educator. She enjoyed a 20-year-long collaboration with the New York City Opera (NYCO) with whom she notably created roles in several world premieres by American composers; including the title role in Jack Beeson's Lizzie Borden in 1965. She also performed with frequency at the Metropolitan Opera from 1952-1965, and was active as a guest artist with notable opera companies both nationally and internationally. Although she is mainly remembered as an exponent of American operas and musicals, she performed a broad repertoire of works and was particularly celebrated for her portrayals of Marie in Wozzeck, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, and the title roles of Carmen and Salome; the latter of which she performed for the inauguration of Houston Grand Opera in 1956. Lewis was also a familiar face to Broadway audiences in operettas, operas, and musicals; appearing in eight productions between 1944 and 1964. Her most successful appearance on Broadway was in the role of Birdie Hubbard in the world premiere of Marc Blitzstein's Regina in 1949. She later became closely associated with the title role in that work which she performed and recorded on disc with the NYCO in 1958. After retiring from the stage, she worked as a voice teacher and opera director at the Hartt School of Music. She also directed and produced operas for the New Haven Opera Theater from 1963-1973. (Wikipedia)
 

Conductor Siegfried Köhler is dead

Siegfried Köhler (30 July 1923 – 12 September 2017) was a German conductor and composer of classical music, who worked as general music director of opera houses such as Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden and the Royal Swedish Opera. He conducted premieres of works by Hans Werner Henze and Volker David Kirchner, among others, and revived rarely performed operas. He also composed music for the stage and taught at universities of music in Cologne and Saarbrücken.

WIKIPEDIA

Derek David Bourgeois (16 October 1941–6 September 2017) was an English composer.

Derek Bourgeois was born in Kingston upon Thames in 1941. After receiving his university education at Magdalene College, Cambridge(honours degree and doctorate), Bourgeois spent two years at the Royal College of Music, studying composition with Herbert Howells and conducting with Sir Adrian Boult. From 1971 to 1984, Bourgeois was a lecturer in music at Bristol University, and director of the National Youth Orchestra from 1984 to 1993. In 1980 he began conducting the Sun Life Band (now the Stanshawe Band of Bristol), which was his introduction to brass bands. In 1994 Bourgeois was appointed Director of Music at St Paul's Girls School, London, a position previously held by a number of noted composers, including Gustav Holst and Herbert Howells. After retiring from this post in 2002 he and his wife settled in Mallorca.

WIKIPEDIA

RIP: Pianist Aloys Kontarsky (1931 - 2017)

Aloys (14 May 1931 – 22 August 2017) [right] and Alfons (9 October 1932 – 5 May 2010) Kontarsky. They were German duo-pianist brothers who were associated with a number of important world premieres of contemporary works. They had an international reputation for performing modern music for two pianists, although they also performed the standard repertoire and they sometimes played separately. They were occasionally joined by their younger brother Bernhard in performances of pieces for three pianos. After suffering a stroke in 1983, Aloys retired from performing. WIKIPEDIA

Patrick Thomas AM MBE (1 June 1932 – 1 August 2017) was an Australian conductor.

For a period of almost 35 years he conducted hundreds of performances across Australia in just about every centre where the various state symphony orchestras ventured, and introduced music to virtually a whole generation of young Australians through his popular and distinctive schools concerts. He held a succession of important posts with four of Australia's major ABC orchestras and the specially created position of ABC Federal Conductor-in-Residence as well as conducting the Australian Opera and the Australian Ballet. He also conducted the ABC's radio chorus, the Adelaide Singers. Overseas, he appeared in 12 countries as Guest Conductor of such orchestras as the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Polish National Radio and Television Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, CBC Symphony Orchestra, Prague Radio Orchestra, and many others in New Zealand, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and South Africa. Other facets of his diverse career included those of concert, radio and television presenter and interviewer....Wikipedia.

Glen Campbell, 'Rhinestone Cowboy' Singer, Dead at 81

Glen Travis Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, television host, and actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, including Rhinestone Cowboy, and for hosting a music and comedy variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television, from January 1969 through June 1972. During his 50 years in show business, Campbell released more than 70 albums. He sold 45 million records and accumulated 12 RIAA gold albums, four platinum albums, and one double-platinum album. He placed a total of 80 different songs on either the Billboard Country Chart, Billboard Hot 100, or Adult Contemporary Chart, of which 29 made the top 10 and of which nine reached number one on at least one of those charts. Campbell's hits include his recordings of John Hartford's "Gentle on My Mind"; Jimmy Webb's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman", and "Galveston"; Larry Weiss's "Rhinestone Cowboy"; and Allen Toussaint's "Southern Nights". Campbell made history in 1967 by winning four Grammys in the country and pop categories. For "Gentle on My Mind", he received two awards in country and western, "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" did the same in pop.

  VIDEO: CBS...

Barbara Cook dead: Broadway actress of "Music Man" dies aged 89

Barbara Cook (October 25, 1927 – August 8, 2017) was an American singer and actress who first came to prominence in the 1950s as the lead in the original Broadway musicals Plain and Fancy (1955), Candide (1956) and The Music Man (1957) among others, winning a Tony Award for the latter. She continued performing mostly in theatre until the mid-1970s, when she began a second career as a cabaret and concert singer. She also made numerous recordings.

  WIKIPEDIA | Independent

VIDEO: Music Man Medley 

Paul Angerer (May 16, 1927 – July 26, 2017) Austrian violist, conductor, composer and radio presenter.

Angerer studied music theory and composition with Friedrich Reidinger and Alfred Uhl, and conducting with Hans Swarowsky. He performed in the viola section of Wiener Symphoniker, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande early in his career and was viola soloist with the Wiener Symphoniker from 1953 to 1957. Angerer then began to conduct the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and the orchestras in Bonn and Ulm. From 1967 to 1972 he was principal conductor of the Salzburg Opera Theater (Salzburger Landestheater) and led the Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester from 1971 to 1982. In 1982, Angerer began conducting the Concilium Musicum Wien and held a teaching position at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna from 1982 to 1992. Angerer was awarded the Austrian State Prize for Music in 1953 for his Musik für Viola allein and in 2001, he received the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class. Paul Angerer's compositional style is influenced by that of Paul Hindemith. His works are published by Verlag Doblinger, Universal Edition, C. Haslinger and Editions M. Reift. (Wikipedia)

 VIDEO: A Bouquet of Old Vienna Dances (Paul Angerer conducts Haydn/Mozart/Beethoven/Schubert/Lanner)

Thomas Füri (22 July 1947, Bern, Switzerland – 23 July 2017, Bern) Swiss violinist

Swiss violinist, and a teacher at the Hochschule für Musik Basel. He studied with his father Erich Füri and with Max Rostal at the Hochschule für Musik Bern. He completed his studies with Ivan Galamian at the Juilliard School in New York. From 1973 till 1980 he was leader in Koblenz, Lausanne and Basel. From 1979 till 1993 he led the Camerata Bern. From 1980 till 1991 he taught at the academies in Winterthur and Zürich. In 1985 he joined I Salonisti, appearing in the 1997 film Titanic. In 1993 he was awarded the Musikpreis des Kantons Bern. From 2000 he was a member of the Aria Quartet. Thomas Füri played on a 1761 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin.

  OBIT Slipped Disc

Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini (7 October 1929 in Bologna – 11 July 2017 in Bologna), was an Italian organist, harpsichordist, musicologist and composer.

Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini studied organ, piano and composition with Riccardo Nielsen at the Conservatory in Bologna and at the Conservatory in Paris with Marcel Dupré. He graduated at the University of Padua in 1951 with a dissertation on the texts of the sacred cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach; he taught organ at Bologna Conservatory where he also held the post of librarian; he became lecturer and later professor of organ at the Monteverdi Conservatory in Bolzano. He was appointed to teach music history at the University of Parma and in 1971 he was appointed as Professor and as Director of the Institute of Musicology at the University of Freiburg (Switzerland). He was guest professor at various universities in the U.S.A.; he was widely active as a concert organist in Italy and abroad. Together with Liuwe Tamminga he was appointed as organist at the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna. Together with Renato Lunelli he founded the journal "L'organo" in 1960, continued together with Oscar Mischiati and still running today. He taught regularly at the summer courses at Haarlem, Netherlands and at the course the "Academy of Organ Music" at Pistoia. WIKIPEDIA | VIDEO Interview
Mostra a cura di Betta Frigieri, Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Paggeria di Palazzo Ducale, Sassuolo (27 marzo 2004)

 

Kyla Greenbaum (1922 – 15 June 2017) was a British pianist and composer.

Greenbaum was the pianist on the recording of The Rio Grande by Constant Lambert. In the book Constant Lambert: Beyond the Rio Grande, Lambert told Greenbaum "that he preferred her playing to (Hamilton) Harty's, even though a prominent wrong note went uncorrected and was only digitally rectified years later for one of its CD transfers." Greenbaum recorded Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

  WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: The Rio Grande-Satchwell Sitwell-Constant Lambert-Gladys Ripley(1949)

RIP...harpsichordist and conductor, Ludger Rémy. He was 68.

Ludger Rémy (4 February 1949 – 21 June 2017) was a German harpsichordist, conductor and musicologist. In 1994 he founded the orchestra Les Amis de Philippe, named after Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. From 1995 to 1999 he directed the Telemann Chamber Orchestra of Michaelstein. He taught at the Stiftung Kloster Michaelstein. On 23 September 2005 he revived the opera Didone abbandonata of Domenico Sarro to a libretto by Pietro Metastasio, successful in 1724, in a shortened concert version, performed at the Schloss Elisabethenburg in Meiningen by Les Amis de Philippe. Between 1995 and 2007 he served as a juror at the International Competition for harpsichord and Fortepiano at the Festival van Vlaanderen in Brugge. WIKIPEDIA

 VIDEO: J.F.Fasch Overture Symphonies, Ludger Rémy
 

US violinist Paul Zukofsky has died aged 73

Paul Zukofsky (October 22, 1943 – June 6, 2017) Violinist and conductor. Best known for his work with contemporary composers such as Phillip Glass and John Cage; his is Einstein's violin on the original recording of Glass's "Einstein on the Beach." Paul Zukofsky was born October 22, 1943 in Brooklyn, New York. His father was the American Objectivist poet Louis Zukofsky and his mother was Celia Thaew Zukofsky. Paul was of Lithuanian Jewish heritage through his father. His mother, Celia, was a Jewish musician and composer. Zukofsky studied violin with Ivan Galamian at the Juilliard School of Music. He won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in 1965.
WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: Paul Zukofsky & Gilbert Kalish, Performers