OBITUARIES

MARIE LEONHARDT

Swiss–Dutch violinist Marie Leonhardt died on 25 July at the age of 93. One of the pioneers of historical performance practice, she was concertmaster of the Leonhardt Consort, founded by her husband Gustav Leonhardt in 1955.

Born Marie Amsler in 1928 in Lausanne, Switzerland, she studied violin with Michel Schwalbé at the Geneva Music Conservatoire. She then moved to Basel to study for a year with Walter Kägi at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. During this time she lived in an apartment at the house of cellist August Wenzinger, a friend of the family with an interest in historical performance. It was also in Basel that she met Gustav Leonhardt. She also received lessons with Max Rostal in London before moving to Vienna, where she met Nikolaus and Alice Harnoncourt. The Leonhardts married in 1953, the same year as the Harnoncourts.

The Leonhardt Consort was founded two years later in Amsterdam, where Marie had taken a teaching position at the Conservatorium. The small group of players became a hotbed of early music talent, attracting the attention of such names as Frans Brüggen, Ton Koopman and Sigiswald Kuijken. In 1969 Marie joined Koopman’s newly founded ensemble Musica Antiqua Amsterdam, where she played first violin. From 1965 Marie was head of the Conservatorium’s Baroque violin class. In 2000 she was named honorary president of the St Petersburg Early Music Festival. She played a violin made by Jacob Stainer in 1676.

DONG-OO LEE

US–Korean cellist Dong-Oo (Edwin) Lee has died. He enjoyed a career both as a performer and teacher in the US and South Korea, most recently as professor of cello at the University of Ulsan, College of Music.

Born in the US in 1956, Lee began studying music at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music Preparatory School and the University of New Mexico College of Fine Arts, graduating from the New England Conservatory of Music in 1980. Lee also studied in Ukraine, at the Kharkiv National Conservatory of Music and the Kharkiv Philharmonic Institute of Music of International Studies where he received a masters in 1989, and an honorary doctorate in 1997.

As an orchestral cellist, Lee held assistant principal roles with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra of Santa Fe in the 1970s. From 1981 until 1983, he was cellist of the Laurentian Quartet, which was the ensemble-in-residence at Sarah Lawrence College.

Lee was the recipient of many awards, including the Tanglewood Fellowship from the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1976 and 1977, the International Round Top Festival in 1977, and the 1979 Piatigorsky Fellowship Prize from the Volpe Foundation.

Following a move to South Korea, from 1983 until 1999 Lee served as principal cellist of the Korean Broadcasting Service Symphony Orchestra. In 1986 he became principal cellist of the Seoul Baroque Orchestra, which was founded in 1965 by Lee’s father-in-law, Bong-Cho Jeon, a cello professor and dean of the College of Music at Seoul National University.

In January 2000 Lee was appointed professor of cello and chair of strings and chamber music at the University of Ulsan College of Music. He was an active member of the American Cello Council. In 2000 he became a founder member of the Korean Cello Association, which includes many of Korea’s leading concert musicians and professors.

ABDUL WADUD

Cellist Abdul Wadud, who explored the realms of avant-garde jazz and classical music, died on 10 August at the age of 75.

His death was announced on social media by his son, the Grammy-nominated R&B and soul singer Raheem DeVaughn.

Originally Ronald E. DeVaughn, he was born on 30 April 1947 in Cleveland, Ohio. He attended Youngstown State, then Oberlin College, where he converted to Islam, changing his name. He attained a masters degree from SUNY Stonybrook in 1972 and embarked on a performance career, playing with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, in Broadway pits, and on the New York City jazz scene.

One of Wadud’s pioneering techniques was playing the cello in jazz groups without a bow. Wadud brought his pizzicato techniques to jazz sessions throughout the 1970s, 80s and 90s, working as both a bandleader and sideman.

During his time at Oberlin, Wadud met saxophonist and composer Julius Hemphill. The pair collaborated on a 15-minute piece called Dogon AD, the title track of Hemphill’s 1972 album. Two decades later, Hemphill said of Wadud, ’We’re so close musically, I feel like I have total freedom. I feel like I could play anything, and he would respond. He knows he could do the same. I know for a fact that Abdul and I could count off a tempo and play for hours.’

YOKO SATO

Japanese violinist Yoko Sato died of liver cancer in the city of Atami, Japan, on 19 July. She was 72.

Born in the Fukushima prefecture in 1949, Sato began playing the violin at the age of three. She made her Moscow debut aged twelve, going on to graduate with top honours from the Moscow Conservatoire, where she studied with Leonid Kogan. In 1972 she took second prize at the Paganini Competition in Italy, which was won that year by Eugene Fodor.

In tandem with her professional career, Sato worked as a vocalist and essayist. She was the partner of the late Japanese artist Masuo Ikeda. The couple moved to Atami in 1982, where she worked for cultural promotional activities until her death.