Covid death of an influential violist
mainMatthieu Herzog informs us of the death of the French viola master Tasso Adamopoulos, principal of several orchestras and professor at the conservatoires of Lyon and Bordeaux. He was 76 and had been ill with Covid-19
Of Greek origin, he studied in Israel with Oedoen Partos, becoming principal viola of the Rotterdam Philharmonic at age 19.
He went on to occupy the principal seat in the Gulbenkian Orchestra, the Ensemble orchestral de Paris, the Orchestre national de France and the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine. His students occupy positions in leading European orchestras.
An importance figure.
He died of the coronavirus on January 2 in Paris, aged 76. Five of his children are ]n the arts, writers and teachers. His sister and brother were violinists, the brother also a conductor. A gifted artistic and musical family. .
I hope to see tributes from the viola comunity and tried to see how many violists I can name,– Mozart, Beethoven, Dvorak, Hindemith, Germaine Prevost, Lionel Tertis, Milton Katims, Pinchas Zukerman, Pierre Monteux, Walter Trampler, William Primrose, Samuel Lifschey, Kim Kashkashian, Rudolf Barshai, Shebolin, Yuri Bashmet, Paul Silverthorne, Max Raimi and Charles Pikler of the CSO, Fyodor Druzynin, to whom Shostakovich dedicated his last work, a sonata for viola and piano. This group can likely name many others.