Sudden death of a Swiss conductor, 67
mainThe amiable Reto Parolari, a well-regarded specialist in light music and entertainment, has died in Winterthur.
Among other posts, he was music director at Circus Krone in Munich and, since 1997, chief conductor at the International Circus Festival in Monte Carlo.
Perhaps to counterbalance the trivialities in his occupation he composed hundreds of electronic scores and founded an international festival of popular music in his home town.
This is sudden and very sad. Reto was one of the few conductors who made a wonderful recording of the 1935 Kunnecke piano concerto and we shared a special friendship around this. I can’t believe he has passed. For those who knew him, you know his kindness and his eternal legacy. If you did not know him, please explore his life online and see the contributions he has made for music. He will he missed.
Thank you for posting this. Reto Parolari was a most lovable, generous man full of wit and charme. It is a shock to many of us who relied on his immense knowledge of the “Gehobene Unterhaltungsmusik” (“high quality entertainment”), and just loved spending time with him.
My thoughts are with his family, especially his father Egon Parolari, famed Swiss oboe player.