OBITUARIES

CHRISTOPHER REX

American cellist Christopher Rex died on 22 March aged 71. He performed with several prominent orchestras in the US and was a longserving principal cellist with the Atlanta Symphony. Born in 1951, Rex studied with Orlando Cole at the Curtis Institute of Music and with Leonard Rose at the Juilliard School. He joined the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1972 under Eugene Ormandy. At only 21, he was the youngest member of the orchestra, remaining with the ensemble for seven seasons. He subsequently became principal cellist of the Atlanta Symphony for 39 seasons.

Rex also worked with the New York Philharmonic, including serving as principal cellist on a European tour in 1988. In 1994 he performed the premiere of Stephen Paulus’s The Veil of Illusion, a double concerto with his violinist brother Charles, who was the orchestra’s associate concertmaster at the time.

Rex was the founder and artistic director of the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival and the Madison Chamber Music Festival. As a teacher, he led the cello department at Georgia State University’s School of Music since 2012 and taught on the chamber music faculty at the McDuffie Centre for Strings at Macon’s Mercer University.

JOHN WOOLF

Violinist John Woolf, director of the Park Lane Group (PLG), died on 30 January aged 91. Born in 1930 in France, he and his father fled to England during the Second World War. He performed in various London orchestras from the mid-1940s, joining the second violins of the Royal Opera House orchestra in 1952, moving up to the first violins in 1974 and leaving in 1995.

Woolf founded PLG in 1956, a concert platform to provide support and performance opportunities for young musicians and composers. He continued to run the group for 65 years, with the help of a committee and funding from gala events, music trusts and the Arts Council. PLG provided opportunities for more than 1,600 musicians, including the Nash Ensemble, the Belcea Quartet, the Arditti Quartet; violinists Clio Gould, Anthony Marwood and Tamsin Waley-Cohen; violist Lawrence Power and cellists Steven Isserlis, Moray Welsh and Rebecca Gilliver.

Woolf’s work with PLG continued into the pandemic, organising livestreamed lunchtime concerts from St James’s, Piccadilly and Holy Sepulchre church, High Holborn. The PLG’s 65th anniversary was celebrated in a concert in March, which also marked the 65th birthday of composer Sally Beamish.

Woolf was widely appreciated for his work, having been made an MBE in 1974, an honorary member of the Royal College of Music in 1981 and honorary fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in 2007.

QUINTIN BALLARDIE

Violist Quintin Ballardie, founder and artistic director of the English Chamber Orchestra (ECO), died on 4 February aged 93. Born in 1928, he studied viola at London’s Royal Academy of Music. In 1960 he took the reins of the ECO, formed from the Baroque group the Goldsbrough Orchestra, and as its artistic director expanded its repertoire beyond the Baroque period. Ballardie worked tirelessly to run and maintain the orchestra for over 60 years, performing as principal viola until his retirement. He also served as principal viola with the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 1963 to 1970.

The ECO worked with artists including Benjamin Britten (who was also the orchestra’s first patron), Daniel Barenboim, Raymond Leppard, Pinchas Zukerman, Mstislav Rostropovich and Murray Perahia. It enjoyed successes such as the BBC’s first colour television transmission of a concert, as well as the opening concert in the European Broadcasting Union’s first international concert series.

Ballardie was a recipient of several prestigious awards, including an OBE for his services to music and a Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Music (FRAM).

WALTER BARYLLI

Austrian violinist Walter Barylli, a longserving concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic, died on 1 February aged 100. Born in Vienna in 1921, he studied the violin at the Vienna Music Academy with Franz Mairecker, the Philharmonic’s concertmaster at the time, with additional studies in Munich with Florizel von Reuter.

In 1938 the 17-year-old Barylli was advised of the concertmaster vacancy. Preparations for the annexation of Austria were happening at the time of his audition, urging him to secure an orchestral job rather than work as a travelling soloist. He led the Philharmonic from 1939 until his retirement in 1972. In addition to his orchestral work, he founded the Barylli Quartet in 1945. The quartet developed a close association with the Vienna Musikverein, as well as performing at the Salzburg Festival and recording a complete Beethoven quartet cycle for Westminster Records.

LYNNE LATHAM

Cellist, educator and editor Lynne Latham died on 24 January aged 62. Born in 1960, she maintained a private studio of string and piano students for more than 30 years in North Carolina.

As a music editor and arranger, Latham founded Latham Music in 1992, a publishing company specialising in music for strings. The company was acquired by the Lorenz Corporation, whereupon Latham became executive editor for Latham Music. In 2012, she was hired as the string editor for LudwigMasters Publications, which acquired the Latham catalogue in 2013. In the spring of 2020, Latham was hired as the string editor for both the Southern Music and LudwigMasters string publications.

In addition to her editing work, Latham performed as a freelance cellist and conductor with local chamber groups.