RIP...death of Donald Montanaro, a legendary teacher at the Curtis Institute

He played in the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1957 to 2005. A student of Daniel Bonade, the first clarinet teacher at Curtis, he represented a line of tradition that stretched back 90 years and more. His students occupy principal positions in many of the world’s premier ensembles. He was a member of the New Orleans Symphony before joining the Philadelphia Orchestra as associate principal clarinet in 1957, a position he held until 2005. Mr. Montanaro has performed at the Marlboro and Casals festivals and toured Europe and the Far East as a soloist and in chamber music ensembles. He is a founder and the music director of the Philadelphia Chamber Ensemble. A member of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1957 to 2005 and a Curtis faculty member since 1980, his students can be found around the world, occupying important positions in Beijing, Dallas, Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Malmö, Mexico City, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Seoul, and Toronto; as well as the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. - See more at: http://slippedisc.com/2016/12/the-go-to-clarinet-teacher-has-died/#sthash.6y4WdfIx.t3oZnoAk.dpuf

 

Cliff Barrows, Billy Graham’s Longtime Musical Director, Dies at 93

Clifford Burton Barrows (April 6, 1923 – November 15, 2016) was a longtime music and program director for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. He had been a part of the Graham organization since 1949. Barrows was best known as the host of Graham's weekly Hour of Decision radio program, and the song leader and choir director for the crusade meetings. WIKIPEDIA

 VIDEO: George Beverly Shea and Cliff Barrows reminisce during a Senior Celebration at The Cove in Asheville, NC on September 20, 2011 (the last time Bev Shea sang in public). These two have been in ministry together with their good friend, Billy Graham, for over 60 years. Watch as Bev Shea tells how he composed the music for I'd Rather Have Jesus. Enjoy the music and the stories! 
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Florence Agnes Henderson (February 14, 1934 – November 24, 2016) was an American actress and singer

Henderson started her career on the stage, performing in musicals, such as the touring production of Oklahoma! and South Pacific at Lincoln Center. She debuted on Broadway in the musical Wish You Were Here in 1952, and later starred on Broadway in the long-running 1954 musical, Fanny (888 performances) in which she originated the title role. Henderson, along with Bill Hayes, appeared in the Oldsmobile commercials from 1958 through 1961 on The Patti Page Show for which Oldsmobile was the sponsor. Henderson also appeared on Broadway in The Girl Who Came to Supper (1963). In 1962, she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre, and the same year became the first woman to guest host The Tonight Show in the period after Jack Paar left as the show's host, and before Johnny Carson began his 30 years as the show's longest serving host in October of 1962. She also joined the ranks of what was then called "The Today Girl" on NBC's long running morning show, doing weather and light news, a position also once held by Barbara Walters. WIKIPEDIA VIDEO Florence Henderson sings "My Love" on Hollywood Palace 03/04/1967

Ida Levin ( 1963 - 19 NOV 2016)

American concert violinist Ida Levin has passed away after a lengthy battle with leukemia – aged just 53. Ms Levin made her professional debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, aged 10, and went on to receive a prestigious Leventritt Award and an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Levin taught at the Sander Vegh International Chamber Music Academy in Prague and was a former faculty member of Harvard University and the European Mozart Academy. An active concert performer and recitalist, Levin performed throughout the world at such venues as the 92nd Street Y, London's Wigmore Hall, the Morgan Library, and Avery Fisher Hall to name just a few. Internationally, she performed in England, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Israel. She was also an active performer of chamber music and a member of the Boston Chamber Music Society. She also regularly played in Open Chamber Music in Cornwall, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and Da Camera of Houston. She died of leukemia in November 2016 at the age of 53. WIKIPEDIA

 VIDEO: 2014 Winter Festival violinist Ida Levin talks about her love for Tchaikovsky and what makes his second string quartet unique as she finishes up the complete cycle of Tchaikovsky string quartets that she began during the 2012 Summer Festival. 

Jules Eskin, Cellist With Boston Symphony Orchestra, Dies at 85

Jules Louis Eskin (October 20, 1931 – November 15, 2016) was an American cellist who was the principal cellist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He was born in Philadelphia. With conductor Seiji Ozawa, he is known for solo performances of well-known works by Johannes Brahms, Gabriel Fauré, and Beethoven. Prior to joining the Boston Symphony Orchestra, he spent three years with the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell. He also played for the Boston Chamber Players and Burton Quintet Five. Eskin died at the age of 85 on November 15, 2016 in Brookline, Massachusetts from cancer. VIDEO: NYTimes Obit

 VIDEO: Gabriel Faurè : Elegie op.24 for Cello and Orchestra - Jules Eskin, cello and Seiji Ozawa and Boston Symphony Orchestra.
 

Mose Allison, Jazz and Blues musician , Dies at 89

Mose John Allison, Jr. (November 11, 1927 – November 15, 2016) was an American jazz blues pianist, singer and songwriter. Allison wrote some 150 songs. His performances were described as being "delivered in a casual conversational way with a melodic southern accented tone that has a pitch and range ideally suited to his idiosyncratic phrasing, laconic approach and ironic sense of humour". WIKIPEDIA VIDEO... Mose Allison, Jazz piano player. Mose Allison was honored as one of the 2013 Jazz Masters by the National Endowment for the Arts at Lincoln Center on January 14, 2013. The NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship is the highest honor that our nation bestows on jazz artists. Each year since 1982, the program has elevated to its ranks a select number of living legends who have made exceptional contributions to the advancement of jazz.

Al Caiola, Guitarist on Themes for 'Bonanza' and 'The Magnificent Seven,' Dies at 96

Alexander Emil "Al" Caiola (September 7, 1920 – November 9, 2016) was a guitarist, composer and arranger who spanned a variety of music genres including jazz, country, rock, western, and pop. He recorded over fifty albums and worked with some of the biggest names in music during the 20th century, including Elvis Presley, Ferrante & Teicher, Frank Sinatra, Percy Faith, Buddy Holly, Mitch Miller, and Tony Bennett. During World War II Caiola played with the United States Marine Corps 5th Marine Division (United States) Band that also included Bob Crosby. Caiola served in the Battle of Iwo Jima as a stretcher bearer. WIKIPEDIA

Hungarian pianist and conductor Zoltan Kocsis dies at age 64

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Zoltan Kocsis, a famed pianist and conductor and musical director of the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, has died at age 64. The Philharmonic said Kocsis died Sunday afternoon, 6 NOV 2016. No specific cause of death was given, but Kocsis underwent major heart surgery in 2012. In October, 2016, the orchestra announced that he was suffering from poor health and, following doctors’ orders, cancelling most of his concerts to rest and recuperate.
  Zoltán Kocsis 30 May 1952 – 6 November 2016

He was a Hungarian virtuoso pianist, conductor, and composer. Born in Budapest, he began his musical studies at the age of five and continued them at the Béla Bartók Conservatory in 1963, studying piano and composition. In 1968 he was admitted to the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, where he was a pupil of Pál Kadosa, Ferenc Rados and György Kurtág, graduating in 1973. He won the Hungarian Radio Beethoven Competition in 1970, and made his first concert tour of the United States in the following year. He received the Liszt Prize in 1973, and the Kossuth Prize in 1978. Kocsis performed with the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Philharmonia of London, and the Vienna Philharmonic. He recorded the complete solo piano works and works with piano and orchestra of Béla Bartók. In 1990, his recording of Debussy's Images won "The Gramophone" Instrumental Award for that year. He won another in 2013 in the chamber category with Bartók works. American critic Harold C. Schonberg praised Kocsis' technique and piano tone. Kocsis co-founded the Budapest Festival Orchestra in 1983. He was the musical director of the Hungarian National Philharmonic. WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO...Mozart K331 Piano Sonata A major, Kocsis Zoltán fortepiano
 

Death of Michael Antrobus | British Bandsman

Michael Antrobus (18 April 1943 - 23 October 2016)

Michael Antrobus — the former resident conductor of Black Dyke and a major musical influence on the Norwegian banding movement... at the age of 73 in Norway, where he moved in 1981 following a successful spell as Resident Conductor of Black Dyke Mills from 1978.

  rbarsrest British Bandsman

Gerhard Wimberger (30 August 1923 – October 2016) was an Austrian composer and conductor.

Wimberger studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. His teachers were Cesar Bresgen and Johann Nepomuk David for composition, and Clemens Krauss and Bernhard Paumgartner for conducting. After World War II, in which he served in the army, he worked as vocal coach at the Vienna Volksoper, then as conductor at the Salzburg Theatre, before becoming a teacher for conducting and composition at the Mozarteum. Among his many pupils were Klaus Ager, Sergio Cárdenas, Dieter Lehnhoff, and Gerd Kühr. Wimberger also served as member of the directory of the Salzburg Festival, and as president of the Austrian Composers' Association AKM. He died in October 2016 at the age of 93.WIKIPEDIA Bio

 VIDEO: Gerhard Wimberger and his son and family in Salzburg and Puerto Vallarta. Song written by Gerhard Wimberger. 

Vladimir Leyetchkiss August 8, 1934 - October 11, 2016

Evanston, Illinois... One of the last pupils of the great Heinrich Neuhaus, Vladimir Leyetchkiss began his piano studies in Baku, Russia and later studied at the Moscow Conservatory. Emigrating from Russia to the United States in 1974, Vladimir has built a reputation as a concert pianist, teacher and a transcriber, specializing in Russian and Romantic music. Leyetchkiss is a frequent performer on WFMT and has done several European tours. He has served as a juror in many piano competitions and appeared as soloist at national conventions of the American Liszt Society and the International Rachmaninoff Society.

 VIDEO Vladimir Leyetchkiss, piano Rec. 1991-07 (Chicago Public Library)
 

American composer Donald H. White was 95...

Donald H. White (February 28, 1921 – October 4, 2016) was a 20th-century American composer. Donald White was born in Narberth, Pennsylvania in 1921. He studied Music Education at Temple University in Philadelphia and composition with Persichetti at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music (1946) and with Bernard Rogers and Howard Hanson at the Eastman School of Music (1952). In 1947 he joined the faculty of DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana where he was chairman of composition and theory studies (1948–81). He was the director of the school of music at Depauw from 1974-1978. He became the chairman of the music department at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington in 1980. White died at the age of 95 on October 4, 2016.

  WIKIPEDIA | Depauw.edu    VIDEO: "Ambrosian Hymn Variants" by Donald H White

Former MET Opera announcer PETER ALLEN dies at 96

Peter Allen (September 17, 1920–October 8, 2016) 

Mr. Allen, who presided over 29 seasons of broadcasts, said introducing performances was, except for his marriage, “the richest experience of my life.” N YTimes 

Peter Allen was an American broadcaster and radio announcer based in New York City. He was especially noted for his 29 years as announcer for the Saturday afternoon radio broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera. WIKIPEDIA

 Allen began his long tenure as announcer at WQXR radio in 1947. His connection with the Metropolitan Opera began in 1973 when he served as the backup for Milton Cross who had been announcing the Met's Saturday afternoon broadcasts since their inception in 1931. In 1975, after Cross's sudden death, Allen took over as announcer for the Met and continued in the job until 2004.

Sir Neville Marriner, CH, CBE (15 April 1924 – 2 October 2016) was an English conductor and violinist.

Marriner was born in Lincoln, England, and studied at the Royal College of Music and the Paris Conservatoire. He played the violin in the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Martin String Quartet and London Symphony Orchestra, playing with the last two for 13 years. He later formed the Jacobean Ensemble with Thurston Dart before going to Hancock, Maine, in the United States to study conducting with Pierre Monteux at his school there. In 1958, he founded the Academy of St Martin in the Fields chamber orchestra and recorded copiously with them. Marriner was the first music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, from 1969 to 1978. From 1979 to 1986, he was music director of the Minnesota Orchestra. He was principal conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1986 to 1989. Marriner recorded for various labels, including Argo, L'Oiseau Lyre, Philips and EMI Classics. His recorded repertoire ranges from the baroque era to 20th century British music, as well as opera. Among his recordings are two CDs of British music for Philips Classics with Julian Lloyd Webber, including acclaimed performances of Benjamin Britten's Cello Symphony and Sir William Walton's Cello Concerto. Marriner also supervised the Mozart selections for the soundtrack of the 1984 film Amadeus. He was chairman of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields chamber orchestra until 1992, when he was succeeded by Malcolm Latchem. Marriner held the title of Life President. He was the father of the clarinettist Andrew Marriner, principal clarinet of the London Symphony Orchestra.

VIDEO: The Academy of St Martin in the Fields was founded by the now legendary conductor Sir Neville Marriner in 1958. Watch to find out a little more about Sir Neville and his relationship with the Academy, whilst enjoying the Academy's performance of the opening to Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20, conducted by Sir Neville Marriner in April 2014. Read more about Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy at: http://www.asmf.org/sir-neville-marri...

 

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: