OBITUARIES

ROGER TAPPING

British violist Roger Tapping died on 18 January aged 61. He played for several renowned chamber ensembles in the UK and the US, including most notably the Takács and Juilliard quartets.

Tapping was born on 5 February 1960. He studied with Margaret Major and Bruno Giuranna, and participated in masterclasses with William Primrose. He embarked on a busy musical career following graduation, joining the Raphael Ensemble with which he played music for broadcast on the BBC. As an orchestral player he held the role of principal viola with the London Mozart Players and was a member of the English Chamber Orchestra, as well as a founding member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

Tapping joined the UK-based Allegri Quartet in 1989, a post he retained until 1995, when he moved to the US to become violist of the Takács Quartet. He continued with the group until 2013, when he joined the Juilliard Quartet. Succeeding Samuel Rhodes, Tapping became only the third person to hold the viola chair since 1946.

A dedicated educator, he was most recently on the faculty of the Juilliard School, where he taught viola and chamber music. He also served on the faculties of the New England Conservatory, Longy School and Boston Conservatory, as well as London’s Royal Academy of Music and Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Tapping was the recipient of many awards, including member of the Order of the Knight Cross of the Hungarian Republic, an honorary doctorate from the University of Nottingham, and a Guildhall School fellowship.

TAPPING PHOTO MATT DINE.

ALEX DEPUE

Alex DePue, a violinist known for crossgenre fiddle playing, died on 27 January ina car crash in Mexico. He was 49.

The second eldest of the DePue siblings that made up the DePue Brothers Band, he was born in Bowling Green, Ohio, where he began his classical violin training at the age of five. At the age of 14 he won a competition that entitled him to a performance at Carnegie Hall where he served as concertmaster under the direction of Joseph Silverstein for the National Guild Youth Symphony Orchestra.

DePue became interested in fiddle playing at the age of seven, winning numerous US fiddle competitions in his youth, as well as serving as a judge at the National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest.

He became the violinist for virtuosic rock guitarist Steve Vai, touring with him worldwide from 2007 to 2010. Through his work with Vai, DePue was introduced to, and then subsequently teamed up with, Mexican guitarist Miguel De Hoyos, with whom he collaborated for many years.

DePue also formed the DePue Brothers Band with siblings Wallace Jr, Jason and Zachary. They described their music as ‘Grassical’, blending American grass-roots music and classical music.

EDMUND REID

Violinist Edmund Reid died on 13 December aged 85. He spent his career often being one of the few black musicians in UK orchestras, breaking down racial barriers to excel in his profession.

Born on 4 December 1936 in Kingston, Jamaica, Reid was introduced to the violin by his aunt, giving his first recital at the age of eight. At 16 he won a scholarship to London’s Royal Academy of Music, where he had lessons with Sascha Lasserson.

His first orchestral appointment was with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and he went on to perform with the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the orchestras of Welsh National Opera, English National Opera and the Royal Opera House.

As well as an orchestral musician, Reid worked extensively as a recitalist and teacher. He performed at Wigmore Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall with pianist Gretta Barrow, his wife since 1959. He continued working after retirement, celebrating his Jamaican heritage with the Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as leading the orchestra of Opéra de Baugé in France and the Rehearsal Orchestra from 1994 to 2015. He was awarded an MBE in 2020.

JACEK WESOŁOWSKI

The violin maker and restorer Jacek Wesołowski died in October 2021, in an accident while piloting a glider plane. He was 43. He began playing the violin aged five before joining music high school in Gdańsk a year later. Aged 15 he enrolled in the Poznań

Music School to learn violin making. While completing his masters degree, he found his love of violin making and a growing interest in early music leading him to apply to study early instrument making under Roger Rose at West Dean College in England, where he met his future wife Cátia Viegas. After graduation the couple married in Poland before moving to London in 2003 for Wesołowski to begin work as a restorer for Charles Beare.

After five years in London the couple returned to Gdańsk where Wesołowski established his own workshop. He focused on early instruments but also on modern violins while his workshop rapidly became a welcoming environment for people to meet, play music and discuss violin making.

ANDREW FAIRFAX

WIESLAW REKUCKI

Wieslaw Rekucki, a Polish violist who maintained an impressive teaching career in Spain, died on 30 January 2022. He was 64.

Born in 1957, Rekucki began his musical education in his native town of Lublin, furthering his studies in Warsaw. He enjoyed a prolific orchestral career as principal viola of the Polish Radio Orchestra and Teatro San Carlo orchestra in Naples, before settling in Oviedo in the north of Spain in 1985, where he was principal viola of the Asturias Symphony Orchestra.

Rekucki was a dedicated pedagogue, teaching at the Spanish Youth Orchestra, the International School of Music of the Prince of Asturias Foundation and the Princess Daisy Festival in Poland.

With his wife, cellist Bogumila Rekucka, he joined the teaching faculty of the Oviedo Conservatory in 1988.