These we have lost in 2020
mainIt has been a year of terrible losses. All names can be found by searching Slipped Disc. These are just the best known.
1 Ida Haendel, violin queen (pictured)
2 Mirella Freni, soprano
3 Krysztof Penderecki, composer
4 Ennio Morricone, composer
5 Peter Jonas, opera administrator
6 Lynn Harrell, cellist
7 Leon Fleisher, pianist
8 Reinbert de Leeuw, conductor
9 Juliette Gréco, singer
10 James Wolfensohn, cello banker
11 Dvora Lewis, publicist
12 Alexander Bouzlov, cellist
13 Robert Layton, record critic
14 Barry Griffiths, orchestra leader
15 Erich Gruenberg,orchestra leader
16 Julian Bream, guitarist
17 Camil Marinescu, conductor
18 Nikolai Kapustin, composer
19 Rosana Martins, pianist
20 Jane Parker-Smith, organist
21 Nicolas Joel, opera manager
22 Keith Tippett, pianist
23 Allan Evans, record researcher
24 Mady Mesplé, soprano
25 Gabriel Bacquier, baritone
26 Kenneth Gilbert, harpsichordist
27 Jennifer Bate, organist
28 Zoltan Pesko, conductor
29 Gerard Schurmann, composer
30 Hellmut Stern, Berlin concertmaster
31 John Tooley, opera house manager
32 Charles Wuorinen, composer
33 Anton Coppola, composer
34 Franco Bordoni, baritone
35 Sergei Slonimsy, composer
36 Nello Santi, conductor
37 Volker David Kirchner, composer
38 Barry Tuckwell, horn player
39 Bruno Nettl, musicologist
40 Roger Scruton, musical philosopher
41 Emanuel Borok, concertmaster
42 Dmitry Smirnov, composer
43 Bassam Sabba, educator
44 Kamen Tchanev, tenor
45 Gabriel Chmura, conductor
46 Alexander Vedernikov, conductor
47 Patrick Davin, conductor
48 Bill Pursell, composer
49 Eldar Aliev, bass
50 John Macurdy, bass
51 Florian Schneider, of Kraftwerk
52 Jan Talich, quartet founder
53 Peter Serkin, pianist
54 John McMurray, ENO casting director
55 Elina Valiyeva, pianist
56 Michael Hedley, organist
57 Charles Krigbaum, organist
58 Vincent Lionti, violist
59 Alan Abel, percussionist
60 Ronald Harwood, musical playwright
61 Terrence McNally, playwright and librettist
62 Miriam Murphy singer
63 Hamish Milne pianist
64 Fanny Waterman, piano competition founder
65 Broadway star Rebecca Luker, 59
66 Ivry Gitlis, 98
67 Catherine Ennis, organist
68 Tony Rice, guitarist
69 Barbara Weisberger, Pennsylvania Ballet founder, 94
70 Juliette Gréco, singer, 93
71 Helen Reddy, singer, 78
72 Dame Vera Lynn, singer, 103
73 Jon Gibson, composer, 80
74 Annie Ross, jazz singer, 89
75 Judy Drucker, impresaria, 91
76 Reinbert de Leeuw, modernist conductor, 81
77 Little Richard, singer, 87
78 Erin Wall, soprano, 44
79 Ty, British rapper, 47
80 Fou Ts’ong, pianist, 86
81 Maynard Solomon, musicologist, 90
82 Christiane Eda-Pierre, soprano, 88
83 Dmitry Paperno, Soviet-American pianist, 90
84 Suzanne Gessner, violin professor, 68
85 Oswald Vogler, Berlin Philharmonic timpanist, 90
86 Shirley Young, China arts patron, 85
87 Paul Heinz Dittrich, German composer, 90
88 Claude Bolling, jazz composer, 90
89 Francois Juteau, classical microsite moderator
90 Alto Reed, Detroit saxophonist, 72
91 Jaan Rääts, composer, 88
92 Tito Rojas, salsa singer, 65
93 Víctor Cuica, Venezuelan saxophonist, 71
94 Amadeu Casas, Catalan composer, 66
95 Mojmir Sepe, Slovenian composer, 95
96 Mohamed Tazi Cherti, Andalusian master, 100
97 ‘Blue’ Gene Tyranny, pianist, 75
98 Brendan Townsend, conductor, 52
99 Kenneth V Jones, film composer, 96
100 Bela Siki, pianist, 97
You forgot Des O’Connor, how could you?
https://youtu.be/5OUiuVNWxYA
And Sir Ronald Harwood – playwright whose work involved so many important musical subjects! Oscar winning screenplay for The Pianist, much acclaimed plays Taking Sides, Quartet, Mahler’s Conversion, Collaboration, Quartet, and a wonderful novel about César Franck – César and Augusta!
Miriam Murphy must be remembered.
#5 earned the title of Sir Peter Jonas and served as an Intendant of the most important opera house in Germany….so much more than “administrator” and certainly deserves all of our respect.
Add Ryan Anthony, trumpet, and Ellis Marsalis.
not a flattering picture of Ida.
So many talented people who have given us so much pleasure over the years. “Golden lads and girls all”, may they rest in peace.
Anton Coppola (No.33) was better known as an opera conductor here in the US, although he was also a composer. James Weaver also died in 2020, and fell to Covid. A noted harpsichord player and curator of historical instruments at The Smithsonian. R.I.P. to both these talented gentlemen.
This is all just terribly sad. It hadn’t really struck me how grievous the loss this year has been until I saw this list. So much talent, so much of the best of humanity lost to us. That really is the only response I can muster at present.
Eric Parkin, British Pianist
Frank Grasso, trumpet
Bucky Pizzarelli, guitar
Karen Marmer, violinist
Petia Kassarova, cellist
I miss Petia.
ENO baritone, Neil Howlett
Erin Wall, soprano
Didn’t you recently publish a list of over 100 felled from Covid alone?
Covid is also responsible for other deaths because people cannot get the medical care they need because resources and medical personnel are tied up or they are afraid or advised not to enter hospitals