OBITUARIES

ANDRÁS ÁGOSTON

Violinist András Ágoston died aged 74 on 2 January. Born in 1 947 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, he studied with István Ruha at the Gheorghe Dima National Music Academy, from which he graduated in 1972. In the same year, he won the David Oistrakh Competition in Vienna, following which he returned to his alma mater to work as a violin teacher for 20 years. He was also a laureate of the J.S.Bach, Tchaikovsky, Enescu and Tibor Varga competitions.

Ágoston was concertmaster of the Philharmonia Hungarica, an orchestra comprised of Hungarian refugees that fled the invasion of Soviet troops. The orchestra was conducted by Zoltán Rozsnyai, former conductor of the Hungarian National Philharmonic, initially formed in Baden bei Wien near Vienna, and ultimately settling in Marl, Germany. The orchestra recorded the complete symphonic works by Haydn for Decca. Ágoston performed with the ensemble from 1991 until its disbandment in 2001.

Ágoston also performed extensively as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician throughout Europe, Asia and the United States. He was awarded the Franz Liszt prize in 2002.

MARTEN CORNELISSEN

Luthier Garrett Marten Cornelissen has died at the a ge of 85. His instruments were played by Yehudi Menuhin, Bernard Greenhouse, Julian Olevski and members of the Guarneri and Juilliard quartets. A prolific luthier, he completed more than 600 instruments during his lifetime.

Cornelissen was born in Apeldoorn, Holland, in 1936. He studied engineering and worked as a machinist in a paper mill while building instruments in his spare time. He then went to live for six weeks in the home of Vladimir Pilar in Hradec Králové, Czech Republic, where he trained under Vladimir’s father Karel. He came second in the 1966 Queen Elisabeth Violin Making Competition in Belgium, and was invited by a US dealer to work at his shop in Kansas City. He later settled in Northampton, Massachusetts, at the suggestion of violinist Philipp Naegele.

Violinist Julian Olevski often played a violin made by Cornelissen, while Menuhin recorded the Bartók Viola Concerto on one of his violas, and wrote to the maker praising his instrument. Greenhouse was a friend and ardent supporter of Cornelissen’s work, and also commissioned a quartet from him.

TONY BYRNE

Irish viola player Tony Byrne died on 2 December, following a long illness. He was a long-standing member of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) viola section from 1974 until his retirement in 2010, during which time he served for years as co-principal.

Byrne was born and raised in Dublin, where he studied the violin, but switched to the viola to make up a chamber group. He was offered a scholarship at the College of Music in Dublin, following which he joined the Symphony Orchestra of the Irish Radio and became a founder member of the Irish Chamber Orchestra. He left Dublin in 1965 to join an orchestra in Bristol and later spent seven years with the Bournemouth Sinfonietta as principal viola. He joined the LPO in 1974, playing as co-principal viola until 2006, then stepping down to become a member of the section until his retirement in 2010. Fellow LPO violist and friend Kate Leek said, ’We have lost one of the loveliest and most generousspirited of colleagues. He was passionate about the music, loved playing chamber music, and practised every spare moment on his beautiful old Italian viola. His wife Christine once said that he felt guilty if he didn’t practise on Christmas Day!’