Page 21 - BBC Music (January 2020)

FAREWELL TO…

Mariss Jansons Born 1943 Conductor
An absolute master
of, above all, Mahler,
Tchaikovsky and Richard
Strauss, Mariss Jansons
(pictured left in 2015) was
one of the most revered
and beloved conductors
of his era. Born in Riga,
his talent was spotted
by Herbert von Karajan
who invited Jansons to
study with him, an offer
initially thwarted by the
Soviet authorities. Jansons
eventually made it to
Salzburg to study with
Karajan, who then offered
him an assistant post at
the Berlin Philharmonic.
History repeated itself, though, and the invitation never reached
Jansons, who cut his teeth with the Leningrad Philharmonic. It was
with the Oslo Philharmonic that he made his first big impact, serving
as music director from 1979-2000, then with the Pittsburgh Symphony
(1997-2004) and Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam (2004-15). His
tenure with the Bavarian Radio Symphony, which began in 2003, was
equally successful, delivering a host of riches in concert and on disc.

Stephen Cleobury Born 1948 Organist, conductor
As the music director of the Choir of King’s
College, Cambridge, for some 37 years, Stephen
Cleobury’s impact on the choral music world
was immense. The TV and radio broadcast of the
choir’s annual Nine Lessons and Carols service
meant millions the world over witnessed his
gifts both as a conductor and as a commissioner
of new music. Cleobury brought his choir into
the modern age, not just in terms of what they
sang but how they sang it, and through tours,
recordings and the ‘Concerts at Kings’ series, he ensured they had a
sizable audience year-round. Away from Cambridge, he directed the
BBC Singers from 1995-2007 and, before that, became Westminster
Cathedral’s first Anglican master of music in 1979. He also enjoyed a
fine reputation as an organist.

Jonathan Miller Born 1934 Opera director
Actor, author, doctor, intellectual, humourist… though the list of
Miller’s talents was seemingly endless, it is as an opera director
that he will be chiefly remembered by the music world. Educated at
Cambridge University, he began directing opera in the 1970s, with
productions for Kent Opera, English National Opera (ENO) and
Glyndebourne. He returned to the opera stage on and off in the decades
that followed – he directed Così fan tutte in the US as recently as 2012
– and was particularly fondly remembered at ENO, which recently
named its new specially designed safety curtain after him.

Also remembered…

The former controller of BBC Radio 3, Robert Ponsonby (born 1926)
also served as director of the BBC Proms from 1974-86. His tenure saw
the programming of more music by contemporary British composers,
including Oliver Knussen, Jonathan Harvey and Robin Holloway.
KEVIN LEIGHTON, GETTY The organist, conductor and composer Colin Mawby (born 1936) was

master of music at Westminster Cathedral in the 1960s before taking
on the role of choral director for RTÉ in Dublin. A talented composer,
he wrote 50 masses, five song cycles and two children’s operas.