Australians mourn founder violinist
RIPMusicians are lamenting the loss of Alice Waten, a founding member of the Australian Chamber Orchestra and teacher of many leading performers, among them its artistic director Richard Tognetti.
A sometime student in Moscow with Valery Klimov and David Oistrakh, she ‘ instilled in me a sense of Soviet-style discipline whilst affording me space to unleash a new frontier’s imagination,’ Tognetti once said.
‘She was kind, she was ferocious, and when you felt ready to pack it all in, she gave you the best hugs,’ said Marleen Broekmans.
The magnificent Alice Waten. How sad that she has gone, but what a wonderful contribution she made in the great Russian tradition with an Australian tweak. Vale.
I was a pupil of Alice’s for a short time as a pupil at Cheethams school in Manchester. She was a passionate delightful lady with great integrity. I mourn her passing , and only wish I had spent more time under her tutelage