Road tragedy: British conductor is killed

We regret to report the death of Frank Shipway, a British conductor of vast experience. Frank, who was 79, was killed after a to-vehicle crash on the A342 at Wedhampton, in Wiltshire.

He was driving  a Jaguar XJ8 that collided with a Vauxhall Astravan travelling in the opposite direction on Tuesday, around 5pm. He died of his injuries yesterday at Southampton General Hospital. The driver of the van was discharged from hospital on Monday night.

Assistant conductor to Lorin Maazel at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 1973, Frank Shipway formed the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI in Italy in 1993 and was its chief conductor for four years. Between 1996 and 1999 he was chief conductor and artistic director of BRT Philharmonic Orchestra in Brussels, then on the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra. He guest conducted with the Cleveland Orchestra, Teatro alla Scala Orchestra, and the Moscow, Helsinki and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestras.

A recording of Mahler’s fifth symphony that he made with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in the 1990s is highly prized among Mahlerians.