OBITUARIES

FELIX AYO

Spanish violinist Felix Ayo has died at the age of 90. He was founder, leader and soloist of the I Musici ensemble, and also founded the Quartetto Beethoven di Roma piano quartet. Born in Sestao, Spain, in 1933, Ayo received his diploma aged of 14 and continued his studies in Paris, Siena and Rome. At the age of 18 he founded I Musici, performing as its leader and soloist for 16 years.

Ayo’s international performing career took him all over the world, as he gave hundreds of concerts as soloist, in recitals and with the Quartetto Beethoven di Roma, which he founded in 1970. He recorded with Philips, Columbia, EMI and Dynamic, and won the ’Grand Prix du Disque’ for his recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. His most recent recordings included works by Tartini, Viotti, Mendelssohn and Turina.

As a teacher, Ayo gave regular masterclasses at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome for 15 years, gaining the title of professor emeritus. He gave seminars in Spain, Canada, Australia, Germany, Japan, Italy, Denmark and the US. He was often invited to be a member of the jury in international competitions, including the Paganini, Sarasate and Lipizer competitions. He received the Premio Roma and Premio San Michele awards, commemorating his life dedicated to music.

JOSEPH GUASTAFESTE

American double bassist Joseph Guastafeste died on 22 September at the age of 93. The former principal double bass of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) had been suffering from cancer.

Born in 1930 in Brooklyn, Guastafeste originally studied the violin but switched to the double bass at the age of 15. After studying at the Juilliard School with Frederick Zimmermann, he joined the New Orleans Symphony in 1949, moving a year later to the Dallas Symphony

Orchestra, where he became principal bass. He was personally recommended to CSO music director Fritz Reiner by conductor Walter Hendl, who had moved from Dallas to become its associate conductor, and Guastafeste took up the CSO position in 1961. He went on to serve under five more music directors: Jean Martinon, Georg Solti, Daniel Barenboim, Bernard Haitink and Riccardo Muti. He continued in the position for 49 years until his retirement in 2010.

Guastafeste was a respected double bass tutor and served on the faculty of Northwestern University. He also coached weekly sectional rehearsals for the bass section of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and gave masterclasses around the world. As a chamber musician he performed with ensembles including Chicago Pro Musica, Emerson Quartet, Juilliard Quartet, Ravinia Institute Players, Music of the Baroque and the Vermeer Quartet.

After his retirement, Guastafeste moved to Minnesota where he created ‘Basshenge’ a garden of metal sculptures of double basses in the style of Stonehenge, situated in Birchdale, Minnesota.

HATTO BEYERLE

The German– Austrian violist and chamber musician Hatto Beyerle died on 16 October at the age of 90. He co-founded the Wiener Solisten chamber orchestra in 1960, and in 1970 was a founding member of the Alban Berg Quartet, with which he played until 1981.

Born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1933, Beyerle studied viola with Ulrich Koch at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg, and violin with Ricardo Odnoposoff in Vienna, as well as conducting with Hans Swarowsky and composition with Alfred Uhl.

Beyerle served as professor for viola and chamber music at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Austria, the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover, Germany, and the City of Basel Music Academy, Switzerland. He also taught at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole in Florence, Italy. Among his students were Hartmut Rohde, the Hagen Quartet and the Galatea Quartet.

Beyerle also initiated the European Chamber Music Academy, and served as the artistic director for the Europäischen Kulturforums Grossraming in Austria.

JOY HALL

HALL PHOTO COURTESYALISON WELLS

British cellist Joy Hall has died at the age of 102. She was a prolific performer and pedagogue, and can be heard on the Beatles’ hit single Strawberry Fields Forever among many other credits.

Born in 1920, Hall studied with Herbert Walenn at the London Cello School and the Royal Academy of Music. During the war she gave numerous concerts for armed forces personnel and performed in the entire first Proms season to take place in the Royal Albert Hall, following the bombing of the Queen’s Hall.

In 1950 she studied with Pablo Casals, acting as a sounding board as he reworked his interpretations of Bach for the first Prades Festival. She became a leading continuo player, working with many prominent early music artists and performing extensively as a member of the Julian Bream Consort. As a chamber musician Joy was co-founder of the Delmé Quartet having previously been a member of the all-female Ebsworth and Zorian quartets, and the Amici Quartet. In the 1980s she founded the Rasumovsky Quartet. Her eclectic career ranged from international touring with classical ensembles to collaborations with the Beatles, Spike Milligan and Charlie Chaplin.

She performed in the first Edinburgh Festival in 1947 and the first Aldeburgh Festival in 1948, returning regularly to both. At Aldeburgh she developed a deep friendship with Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears. Highlights included performing and recording the complete Monteverdi madrigals with Janet Baker and Raymond Leppard and playing trios with Yehudi Menuhin and Britten. A long association with Dartington Summer School included working alongside Stravinsky for a month in 1957.

In her later years she developed her passion for pottery and painting, her final exhibition taking place when she was 98.

ALISON WELLS