Latest: Murdered pianist was US-born opera repetiteur
mainPolice in Bonn have allowed media to name the pianist whose body was found in a shallow forest grave not far from Bonn.
She was Kate de Marcken, 50, an American-born pianist who grew up in Belgium and was married to a player in the Beethoven Orchestra.
Her husband, unnamed, has been arrested and charged with her murder. When he first reported her missing, he claimed she had gone to visit her family in Liège.
Kate was a vocal coach at La Monnaie, Bonn Opera and Salzburg. She assisted at the world premiere of Peter Eotvos’s opera, Three Sisters, among other productions. She accompanied visiting singers in Bonn recitals.
A friend describes her to Slipped Disc as ‘the kindest human being’. The last time they spoke she had asked for his assistance in relocating to New York.
Kate leaves a 12 year-old son.
The music community in Bonn are in a state of shock at this appalling tragedy.
I urge people (in whatever country) to call their elected officials and demand strict, lengthy mandatory prison sentences for convicted domestic violence offenders.
No plea bargains, no probationary sentences.
I urge people to call their elected officials and demand an end to irrational “trials in the public forum”. What’s next, lynchings? That’s certainly “no please bargains, no probationary sentences.”
Please confine comments to the tragedy reported above and to personal memories of Kate de Marcken.
Thank you for removing the requested post.
Mandatory sentences have turned out to be regrettably inflexible in other areas of crime.
Kate was a cousin. How about taking this conversation to another site. We are a BIG family and trying to find out the impossible, WHY. Be respectful and don’t make this article a forum of hate. We loved her as a cousin, mother, wonderful pianist….Leave this page for the public debate, there are better venues. Thank you.