The Music World Loses Two Great Conductors
Sad news today that the music world has lost two of its great conductors – Sir Jeffrey Tate and Jiří Bělohlávek.
Sir Jeffrey Tate (74), was well-known to Australian audiences as Principal Guest Conductor and Artistic Adviser of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. He was scheduled to conduct them again in October this year. He is reported to have died of a heart attack in the Italian city of Bergamo on June 2, 2017. Earlier this year he was knighted for his services to music.
Born with spina bifida and a partial paralysis, he was a supreme example of professional success in the face of physical disability.
Czech conductor Jiří Bělohlávek (71), former chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic, died after what was reported as a long illness. An expert in Czech music, Australian audiences would best know him from his extensive discography. He also conducted the Sydney Philharmonia Symphony Chorus when it joined the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus to open the BBC Proms, performing Mahler’s Symphony No 8 at the Royal Albert Hall in July 2010.
