Jean Redpath, Folk Singer, Dies at 77

Ms. Redpath’s repertoire of contemporary tunes, ancient ballads and Robert Burns poems filled some 40 albums. NYTimes Obit Jean Redpath MBE (28 April 1937 – 21 August 2014) was a Scottish folk singer, educator and musician. Redpath was born in Edinburgh, to musical parents. Her mother knew many Scots songs and passed them on to Jean and her brother; her father played the hammer dulcimer. She was raised in Leven, Fife, Scotland, and later returned to Edinburgh, taking medieval studies at the university. WIKIPEDIA

Licia Albanese, diva Soprano, Is Dead at 105

Licia Albanese (July 22, 1909 – August 15, 2014) was an Italian-born American operatic soprano. Noted especially for her portrayals of the lyric heroines of Verdi and Puccini, Albanese was a leading artist with the Metropolitan Opera of New York from 1940 to 1966. She also made many recordings and was chairman of The Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation which is dedicated to assisting young artists and singers.

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Peter Sculthorpe, composer

Peter Joshua Sculthorpe AO OBE (29 April 1929 – 8 August 2014) was an Australian composer. Much of his music resulted from an interest in the music of Australia's neighbours as well as from the impulse to bring together aspects of native Australian music with that of the heritage of the West. He was known primarily for his orchestral and chamber music, such as Kakadu (1988) and Earth Cry (1986), which evoke the sounds and feeling of the Australian bushland and outback. He also wrote 17 string quartets, using unusual timbral effects, works for piano, and two operas. He stated that he wanted his music to make people feel better and happier for having listened to it. He typically avoided the dense, atonal techniques of many of his contemporary composers. His work was often distinguished by its distinctive use of percussion.

NORMAN LEYDEN conductor

Born: October 17, 1917, Springfield, Massachusetts, United States Died: July 23, 2014, Portland, Oregon, United States Education: Yale University Norman Fowler Leyden was an American conductor, composer, arranger, and clarinetist. He worked in film and television and is perhaps best known as the conductor of the Oregon Symphony Pops orchestra. Norman Leyden was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, to James A. and Constance Leyden. He graduated from Yale University in 1938, attended Pierre Monteux's Domaine Musicale in Hancock, Maine, in 1961, and earned a master's (1965) and doctoral degree (1968) from Columbia University (where he also taught for several years). He married in 1942 in Duval County, Florida, to Alice Curry Wells.

  WIKIPEDIA

Carlo Bergonzi, 90, an Operatic Tenor of Subtlety and Emotional Acuity, Dies

Carlo Bergonzi, (13 July 1924 – 25 July 2014) was an Italian operatic tenor. Although he performed and recorded some bel canto and verismo roles, he was above all associated with the operas of Giuseppe Verdi, including a large number of the composer's lesser-known works that he helped revive. Essentially a lyric tenor with spinto capabilities, Bergonzi was greatly admired during the peak of his career for his beautiful diction, smooth legato, warm timbre and elegant phrasing. Above all he was acclaimed for his attention to the style required in Verdi's operas.

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  WIKIPEDIA BIO | NYTimes Obit

Elaine Stritch, Broadway’s Enduring Dame, Dies at 89

Elaine Stritch, the raspy-voiced actress whose forceful personality and salty language enlivened the New York stage for more than six decades, died Thursday at her home in Birmingham, Mich. She was 89.

Wikipedia Bio

Elaine Stritch (February 2, 1925 – July 17, 2014) was an American actress and singer, best known for her work on Broadway. She appeared in numerous stage plays and musicals, feature films, and many television programs. She was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1995. Stritch made her professional stage debut in 1944 and her Broadway debut in the comedy Loco in 1946. Notable Broadway credits include her Tony Award nominated roles in the original production of William Inge's 1955 play Bus Stop, and musicals by Noël Coward (Sail Away, 1961) and Stephen Sondheim (Company, 1970), the latter includes her performance of the song "The Ladies Who Lunch", plus the 1996 revival of the Edward Albee play A Delicate Balance and her 2001 Tony Award winning one-woman show Elaine Stritch at Liberty. Her death was confirmed by her friend, Julie Keyes, who cited age-related illnesses as the cause.
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Ken Thorne, English conductor arranger 90 years

English composer, arranger, orchestra leader, Ken Thorne passed away July 9,2014 at the age of 90 in his West Hills CA home. Kenneth Thorne (26 January 1924 – 9 July 2014) was a British television and film score composer. Thorne was born in East Dereham, a town in the English county of Norfolk. Thorne began his musical career as a pianist with the big bands of England during the 1940s, playing at night clubs and the dance halls. At age 27, Thorne decided to seriously study composition with private tutors at Cambridge and later studied the organ for five years in London.
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Lorin Maazel, Conductor, Dies at 84

Lorin Varencove Maazel (March 6, 1930 - July 13, 2014) was an American conductor, violinist and composer.

Maazel was born to Jewish American parents of Russian origin in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, and brought up in the United States, primarily at his parents' home in Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood. His father, Lincoln Maazel (1903–2009), was a singer, teacher of voice and piano, and an actor (he co-starred in George A. Romero's 1977 horror movie Martin); and his mother, Marion "Marie" Shulman Maazel (1894–1992), founded the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra. His grandfather Isaac was a violinist in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for twenty years. Both Lincoln and Marie gave interviews for the Oral History Collection at the University of Pittsburgh, Lincoln's in 1994, and Marie's in 1974. These can be heard online.Wikipedia BioSHOP MAAZEL HERE:

Pianist Howard Karp

Howard Karp died June 30 2014 at the age of 84. The patriarch of a prolific musical family, he was a professor emeritus of piano at University of Wisconsin. KARP OBIT | Recordings available at Amazon.com

BERNARD ROBERTS, pianist 1933 - 2013

Bernard Roberts (23 July 1933 – 3 November 2013) was an English pianist. He was born in Manchester. His treatment of the cycle of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas has been highly acclaimed. He is also noted for his recordings of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Roberts' recording of the Well-Tempered Clavier, Books 1 and 2, performed on piano, was released in 1999 by Nimbus Records and was well received. Roberts also has recorded Bach's Six Partitas, BWV 825-30, and his French Suites, BWV 812-17. In collaboration with other performers, Roberts released discs of music for one and two pianos by Paul Hindemith and of trios by Frank Bridge. OBITUARY

Paul Horn, a pioneer of New Age Music, Dies at 84

Paul Horn, a flutist and saxophonist whose mellow, meditative recordings helped lay the groundwork for New Age music, died on June 29 at his home in Vancouver, British Columbia. He was 84. NYTimes Obit | Official Web Site | Wikipedia Bio:
Paul Horn (March 17, 1930 – June 29, 2014) was an American jazz flautist, and an early pioneer of New Age music. He was known for his innovations on both metal and traditional wooden flutes. Best known of his albums are his "Inside" recordings, which feature airy, echoing sounds created in places of spiritual importance. Horn himself was a practitioner of Transcendental Meditation.[3] The series began with Horn sneaking a tape recorder into the Taj Mahal during a trip to India in 1968, (released as Inside) where he was with the Beatles at Rishikesh, and continued later with recordings inside the Great Pyramid of Giza, and a return to the Taj Mahal in 1989. Horn later made similar recordings in a cathedral, in the canyons of the Southwestern United States with Native American flautist R. Carlos Nakai, and with orcas.
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Seymour Barab, 93, Composer of Playful Operas, Dies

Seymour Barab, a composer known for his whimsical chamber operas on such stirring subjects as passion, poison and pizza, died on June 28, 2014 in Manhattan. He was 93. Seymour Barab was born January 9, 1921 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American cellist, composer, organist, and pianist. He is known for his fairy tale operas for young audiences, such as Chanticleer and Little Red Riding Hood. He is a longtime member of the Philip Glass Ensemble. NYTimes Obit | Official Web Site |
Barab at Amazon.com

Conductor Franz-Paul Decker (1923-2014)

Maestro Franz-Paul Decker was a conductor of international reputation who was appointed the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra’s first Conductor Laureate in 1995. This unique honour recognised his 40-year association as Guest Conductor, Principal Conductor, and Chief Conductor of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and his significant influence on orchestral performance in New Zealand. Franz-Paul Decker had a “love affair” with the NZSO since he first conducted it in 1966, when he was “very positively surprised [by its] highly professional musicians. Decker was born in Cologne, Germany, where he studied at the Hochschule für Musik with Philip Jarnach and Eugen Papst. He made his conducting début at the age of 22 at the Cologne Opera, and four years later was appointed to the Staatsoper Wiesbaden and subsequently to the positions of conductor of the Wiesbaden Symphony Orchestra and Generalmusikdirecktor in Bochum. In 1948, Decker was introduced to the composer Richard Strauss at a card game of whist. Strauss casually mentioned that he had just finished orchestrating four songs he had recently composed (the Four Last Songs). wikipedia

Julius Rudel, Longtime Impresario and Conductor of City Opera, Dies at 93

Julius Rudel, the Austrian-born conductor who raised the New York City Opera to a venturous golden age with highbrow music for the masses and a repertory that, like him, bridged the Old and New Worlds, died on Thursday at his home in Manhattan. He was 93. NYTimes Obit
Julius Rudel (6 March 1921 – 26 June 2014) was an American opera and orchestra conductor. He was born in Vienna and was a student at the city's Academy of Music, but emigrated to the United States at the age of 17 in 1938 after the country was annexed by Germany. He studied conducting at the Mannes College of Music in New York City. After completing his music studies, he joined the New York City Opera. Wikipedia

Johnny Mann dies at 85; Grammy-winning conductor and arranger

The Johnny Mann Singers performed on his syndicated "Stand Up and Cheer," which ran from 1971 to 1974. As the titled suggested, it was upbeat and included patriotic segments during the era of protests against the Vietnam War. Mann's group was a staple of recordings and TV shows in the 1950s and '60s, he died Wednesday 18 JUN 2014, at his home in Anderson, S.C. He was 85. Mann had been treated for heart problems in recent years. Johnny Mann (August 30, 1928 – June 18, 2014) was an American arranger, composer, conductor, entertainer, and recording artist. Wikipedia

Horace Silver, 85, Master of Earthy Jazz, Is Dead

Mr. Silver, a pianist, composer and bandleader, wrote and performed music that was both sophisticated and accessible. Horace Silver was born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva, September 2, 1928 and died June 18, 2014. An American jazz pianist and composer. Silver known for his distinctively humorous and funky playing style and for his pioneering compositional contributions to hard bop. He was influenced by a wide range of musical styles, notably gospel music, African music, and Latin American music and sometimes ventured into the soul jazz genre. Wikipedia

Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, 80, Dies

Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos (born Rafael Frühbeck; 15 September 1933, Burgos, Spain – 11 June 2014, Pamplona, Spain was a Spanish conductor and composer. As a youth, he studied violin, piano, and composition at the conservatories of Bilbao and Madrid. He first took up conducting while on military service in the Spanish Army. He graduated summa cum laude from the Hochschule für Musik in Munich in conducting and won the Richard Strauss Prize. He subsequently took the professional surname Frühbeck de Burgos as his artist name, which includes the name of his city of birth.Wikipedia | NYTimes Obit

David Nadien, Philharmonic Concertmaster, Is Dead at 88

David Nadien, a violinist whose appointment as concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic raised eyebrows because of his thriving career as a studio musician, died on May 28 2014 in Manhattan. He was 88. NYTimes Obit

André Popp, French Composer of ‘Love Is Blue,’ Dies at 90

André Charles Jean Popp (19 February 1924 – 10 May 2014) was a French composer, arranger and screenwriter. 

Andre Popp worked almost exclusively with female singers during this period, preferably the Lolita types, such as Chantal Goya, but also with Françoise Hardy. "Love is Blue", a song Vicky Leandros performed at the Eurovision Song Contest 1967 on behalf of Luxembourg, also recorded by Claudine Longet, became internationally popular. In these recordings, Popp does not sacrifice the sophistication of his 1950s orchestrations, but rather than animate the songs, he seems to set the tone, the mood, painting a colorful picture. Sometimes there are silky, smooth strings; often there is harpsichord and oboe and flute; elsewhere adventurous brassy fanfares; occasionally an ethereal soprano chorus; always some magical musical final touch, like the faint, quavering harmonica in "Manchester et Liverpool". Marie Laforêt's voice fit perfectly in André Popp's 1960s soundscapes and he created more of them for her than for her contemporaries. Popp died at his apartment in the Paris suburb of Puteaux on 10 May 2014. - Wikipedia

Pop crooner of the 50's, Jerry Vale, has died

Jerry Vale, a pop crooner known for his velvety voice and the classic love songs he recorded in the 1950s and early ’60s, died on Sunday, 18 MAY 2014, at his home in Palm Desert, Calif. He was 83.
NYTimes Obit | Wikipedia Jerry Vale (born Genaro Louis Vitaliano; July 8, 1930 – May 18, 2014) was an American singer and actor.