London loses major benefactor
RIPWe have learned of the death, aged 95, of Ian Stoutzker, lavish patron of musical causes.
The son of a synagogue cantor, he studied violin with Albert Sammons at the Royal College of Music and quickly went into finance. He was soon wealthy enough to buy the Vieuxtemps Stradivarius.
A close friend of Yehudi Menuhin, he cofounded Live Music Now to give young musicians their first gigs and to bring music to areas of deprivation.
After the death of Otto Klemperer, he saved the Philharmonia Orchestra from bankruptcy and served as chairman while his friend Lorin Maazel was music director. Later, he transferred his support to the LSO. In 2014 he took on the chairmanship of the European Union Youth Orchestra. TheRoyal Academy of Music said of him: ‘With the possible exception of George Frederic Handel, no individual has done more to bring music to children and the disadvantaged in the history of this country than Ian Stoutzker.’
He endowed the Dora Stoutzker Hall at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, in memory of his mother who studied there.
His wife, Mercedes Stoutzker, assembled a fabled collection of modern British art.
…synagogue officiant??
…
Bingo.
The sad death of a wonderful man.
A real shame! A wonderful, wonderful man and real supporter of young musicians.
He owned the Vieuxtemps/Stoutzker Guarneri del Gesu of 1741, now on permanent loan to Anne Akiko Meyers. There is a Vieuxtemps Stradivari of 1710, but it was never owned by Stoutzker.
Are you saying he didn’t bequeath anything to his favorite ‘musical causes’. That’s sad.
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I knew him quite well at one point. In many ways he was vain, foolish and unpleasant and never made a selfless donation in his life.
What a wonderful man and a life of quality. May he rest in peace.