Emilio Gravagno, Philadelphia Orchestra double bassist

Emilio Anthony Gravagno, 82, a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s double-bass section for more than four decades, died Saturday, 24 September 2016, at Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania after a long struggle with lymphoma. Born in Chicago, Mr. Gravagno took up the double bass in high school. He attended Southeastern Louisiana College and DePaul University before entering Curtis in 1954, where he studied with Roger Scott. After his Curtis graduation in 1958, he played in the New Orleans Symphony and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, joining the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1967. PHILLY.COM

Conductor Paul Wolfe has died

For 34 years Paul Wolfe was conductor and artistic director of the Florida West Coast Symphony, in Sarasota. He was also first violinist of the Sarasota String Quartet and founder-director of the Sarasota Music Festival, retiring in 2006 at the age of 80.
 During his more than three decades as artistic director and conductor of the Florida West Coast Symphony, Paul Wolfe invited audiences to share his passion for music while ensuring that thousands of students received a meaningful introduction into the world of the classics. During his 34-year tenure, Wolfe led countless concerts for the organization now known as the Sarasota Orchestra, performed in what is now the Sarasota String Quartet, co-founded the Sarasota Music Festival and expanded and enthusiastically conducted the organization’s vibrant youth orchestra. Wolfe retired from the orchestra in 1996.

South African star tenor Johan Botha has died at age 51.

Johan Botha (19 August 1965–8 September 2016) was a South African operatic tenor. Botha was born in Rustenburg, South Africa. He made his stage debut at the municipal theatre in Roodepoort as Max in Der Freischütz in 1989. His international breakthrough occurred in 1993 at the Opéra Bastille as Pinkerton in Puccini's Madama Butterfly. Since then he performed at leading opera venues around the world such as the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera which made him a Kammersänger in 2003, Opera Australia, Royal Opera House (London), La Scala, and the Salzburg Festival. At the time of his death he lived in Vienna, Austria with his wife and two sons. VIDEO: In Verdi's masterful adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy, a great warrior discovers the one weapon against which he has no defense—his own jealousy. Johan Botha, the South African tenor praised by The New York Times for his "effortless power and clarion tone," makes his San Francisco Opera debut in the title role. Bulgarian soprano Zvetelina Vassileva brings tenderness and vocal brilliance to the role of Desdemona, the faithful wife who finds facts are no match for manufactured suspicion. Music Director Nicola Luisotti, praised by London's Financial Times for conveying Verdi's "sweep, lyricism and subtle detail," conducts

Organist Raymond Daveluy died August 31, 2016

Joseph Eugène Raymond-Marie Daveluy (23 December 1926 – 1 September 2016) was a Canadian composer, organist, music educator, and arts administrator. An associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre, his compositional output consisted mainly of works for solo organ. He had an active international career as a recitalist and concert performer from 1946 through the 1990s. He held a number of church posts in Montreal, including serving as organist of St-Jean-Baptiste Church (1946–1951), Immaculée-Conception Church (1951–1954), and St-Sixte Church (1954–1959). In 1980, he was named a Member of the Order of Canada. He was married to pianist Hilda Metcalfe. WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: Raymond Daveluy, compositeur agréé au Centre de musique canadienne, nous parle de sa 7e sonate pour orgue. 

Former Berlin Philharmonic principal cellist Eberhard Finke has died aged 96

Eberhard Finke was one of the Berliner Philharmoniker’s most influential musicians of the postwar period. Now he died at the age of 96. Born in Bremen, he studied at the Staatliche akademische Hochschule für Musik in Berlin and at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. Following an engagement as first principal cellist in Rio De Janeiro, he took over the same position with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Wilhelm Furtwängler in 1950. Until his retirement in 1985, he could be heard as a soloist with the orchestra in many concert performances. In 1972, he was one of the founding members of the 12 Cellists of the Berliner Philharmoniker. From 1969, Eberhard Finke taught as a professor at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik. Until a few years ago, he held masterclasses and was a judge at competitions. BERLIN PHILHARMONIC

Samo Hubad (1917 - 2016), Slovene conductor.

Conductor Samo Hubad has died September 1, 2016, at age 99. TRANSLATED: (Noted for)...Composition and conducting , he studied in the Slavko Osterc and Danilo Švara and completed it in C. Schmeidlu and Carlo Zecchiju and when Vaclav Talichu in Prague . As a versatile musician who in his youth also devoted to jazz and was a member of the first band Big Band Radio Ljubljana , by the spring of 1945 assembled composer Bojan Adamic . Throughout his working life he was leading Slovenian conductor. Between 1942 and 1958 he conducted the Opera and Ballet in Ljubljana , where he was between 1948 and 1952, the director, between 1959 and 1964 he was the permanent guest conductor of the Zagreb opera , between 1955 and 1957, also the chief conductor of the Zagreb Philharmonic . In the period between 1947 and 1966 he was chief conductor of the Slovenian Philharmonic . Maestro Hubad has also developed a successful international career. He has conducted more than sixty orchestras around the world, including Munich, Budapest, Warsaw, Bucharest and Leningrad Philharmonic, Radio Orchestra in Helsinki, Paris, Bratislava, Bucharest and Moscow, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, repeatedly conducted at the prestigious Festival Maggio Musicale Fiorentino . He has led performances at opera houses in Belgrade , Zagreb opera led to guest appearances in Paris , in Holland and in Italy as the only Slovenian conductor until today, he has directed the Teatro Verdi in Tries. SLIPPED DISC OBIT VIDEO: