Sad news: A Paris conductor has died
mainThe New Zealand-born conductor Gary Brain has died in Paris, aged 72.
Gary was a percussionist in Wales, Ulster and at the Royal Opera House, London. He became principal timpanist with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra but on a flight to the US a suitcase fell from an overhead locker and crushed his wrist beyond repair. He retrained as a conductor, working with Rafael Kubelik and Lorin Maazel.
He won a Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik for reviving th music of the Swiss-Polish composer Czeslaw Marek and went on to make quite a few recordings for Toccata Classics. Martin Anderson remembers him here.
So very sorry to hear this. He was a very respected musician and conductor. [I always had it in mind to send my edition of Antoine Reicha’s ‘Symphonie Concertante pour Deux Violoncelles etc Orchestre’ to Gary as he was a specialist in Reicha’s symphonies. He would have been the go to man for this]. I wish his close family and friends heartfelt sympathy, and all the musicians who worked closely with him during his career as a tympanist and conductor.
Thank you for this item and the Martin Anderson article. Many people here in New Zealand will be very sorry to hear of Gary’s death
Thank you for the sensitive tribute to Gary. In my teens in the 1960s I went to as many concerts of the then New Zealand National Orchestra as I could ( it is now the NZ Symphony Orchestra ) so Gary was a familiar figure in the percussion section . He ran a programme in schools which, I understand , was greatly enjoyed and still remembered by those attending his sessions . News of his accident was shocking , especially because it was avoidable , and I am glad he developed his career as a conductor and had a happy personal life .