In Memoriam — Remembering the Extraordinary Artists We Lost in 2024

As the year comes to a close, we would like to remember the remarkable artists who passed away in 2024

 

Violinist Richard Adams, the former assistant concertmaster of the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra for over 30 years, passed away at age 94. 

The American jazz musician Willie Ruff, who was a professor at the Yale School of Music for over 40 years, passed away aged 92. 

Violinist and champion of contemporary music Philippe Arrii-Blachette passed away aged 87. 

The Canadian cellist and founding member of the Orford String Quartet Marcel Saint-Cyr passed away aged 85. 

The American conductor Robert Lyall, who was closely associated with the New Orleans Opera, passed away at the age of 76. 

The Korean-American luthier and pedagogue Tschu ho Lee passed away aged 91.

The Australian pianist, music director, and conductor Kellie Dickerson passed away aged 53. 

Renowned composer Ron Nelson passed away at the age of 94. 

The Polish composer, pianist, and organist Romauld Twardowski passed away at the age of 93.

Composer and musical parodist Peter Schickele passed away aged 88. 

Violinist Sidney Weiss, who was principal concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, passed away aged 95.

The American cellist Deborah Reeder passed away aged 83.

Renowned Broadway artist Chita Rivera, who spent nearly six decades on the stage, passed away aged 91.

Cellist Antonio Lysy, who taught at the University of California for 20 years, passed away aged 60. 

Finnish soprano Riikka Hakola, who sang with The Finnish National Opera for over 20 years, passed away aged 61. 

Finnish violinist Hannele Angervo-Segerstam passed away aged 80. 

Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa, who served as Boston Symphony Orchestra's Music Director for 29 years passed away aged 88. 

The American conductor and arranger Cliff Colnot passed away at age 76.

Violinist and pedagogue Sally Thomas passed away aged 92. 

Dutch pianist Rudolf Jansen passed away aged 84. 

Edmond Baert, the former principal cellist of the Belgian National Orchestra, passed away aged 90. 

The Australian violinist Geoffrey Michaels passed away aged 79.

Scottish conductor Stewart Robertson passed away aged 75. 

Australian violist Roger Myers, who taught at the Austin Butler School of Music, passed away. 

Bowmaker Roger Zabinski, who created over 900 bows within his lifetime, passed away aged 74. 

The Japanese composer Makoto Shinohara passed away at age 92. 

The German composer Aribert Reimann passed away aged 88. 

Pianist Solomon Mikowsky, who taught at the Manhattan School of Music for over half a century, passed away aged 88. 

Renowned for his interpretations of Romantic repertoire, the American pianist Byron Janis, passed away aged 95.

The GRAMMY Award-winning pianist Maurizio Pollini passed away aged 82. 

Violinist and pedagogue Igor Ozim passed away aged 92.

Composer, conductor, and teacher Peter Eötvös passed away aged 80.

Violinist Paul Phillips, who played in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for four decades, passed away aged 77. 

Pianist and conductor Jean-Pierre Marty passed away aged 91.

The German conductor Michael Boder passed away aged 65. 

La Scala’s former concertmaster Franco Fantini passed away at age 99. 

The British conductor Sir Andrew Davis passed away aged 80. 

Hollywood film composer Richard Horowitz passed away at age 75. 

Joséphine Markovits, the former artistic director of the Festival d'Automne à Paris, passed away aged 77.

Conductor and oboist Jorge Rivero Tirado passed away aged 74. 

Serge Gaymard, the former director of France’s Opéra de Reims, passed away aged 68. 

Former Philadelphia Orchestra concertmaster Norman Carol passed away aged 95. 

The American rock icon Steve Albini passed away aged 61. 

Saxophonist David Sanborn passed away aged 78. 

The Portuguese trumpeter Pedro Freire passed away at the age of 31.

Oscar-winning film composer Jan A.P. Kaczmarek passed away aged 71. 

Early music specialist Milton Scheuermann passed away aged 91. 

Violinist Werner Hink, who was a former concertmaster for the Vienna Philharmonic, passed away aged 81. 

Paris Opera’s former director Hugues Gall passed away aged 84.

Musical theater songwriter Richard M. Sherman passed away aged 95. 

Violinist and violist György Konrád passed away at the age of 99. 

The British oboist Timothy Watts, who was the Sub-Principal Oboe at the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, passed away. 

Indiana University Violin Professor Kevork Mardirossian passed away aged 70. 

The Belgian soprano Jodie Devos passed away aged 35. 

The Scottish conductor James Loughran passed away aged 92. 

Violinist Maynard Goldman, who was concertmaster of the Boston Ballet for 25 years, passed away aged 88. 

The Welsh cellist Kathryn Price, who studied with Lynn Harrell and William Pleeth, passed away. 

The Scottish baritone Alan Watt passed away. 

Tenor Lando Bartolini passed away aged 87. 

The Georgian violinist Liana Isakadze passed away aged 77. 

Conductor Michael Graubart passed away aged 93. 

Composer Alexander Knaifel passed away aged 80. 

Cellist Lauri Pulakka, who was the first solo cellist of the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, passed away aged 62. 

The German mezzo-soprano Ruth Hesse passed away aged 88. 

The Venezuelan composer and conductor Juan Carlos Núñez passed away aged 76. 

Douglass Fake, who produced over 700 albums of movie and TV music, passed away aged 72. 

The Romanian violinist Eugène Sarbu passed away aged 73. 

The Italian soprano Elena Mauti Nunziata passed away aged 77. 

Composer and pianist Sarah Gibson passed away at the age of 38. 

The general editor of the Grove Dictionary of American Music Charles Hiroshi Garrett passed away. 

The German composer Wolfgang Rihm passed away aged 72. 

The Brazilian cellist Antonio Meneses passed away aged 66. 

Yehudi Menuhin’s daughter Zamira Menuhin Benthall passed away aged 84. 

The Russian anti-war activist and classical pianist Pavel Kuzhnir passed away in pretrial custody at the age of 39. 

Baritone Benjamin Luxon passed away aged 87. 

Spanish conductor Miguel Ángel Gómez Martínez passed away aged 74. 

Malcolm Critten, who was principal violist of the Royal Northern Sinfonia for 37 years, passed away. 

Composer and Holocaust survivor Walter Arlen passed away aged 103. 

Violinist Frances Darger, who played in the Utah Symphony for almost 70 years, passed away aged 99. 

Pianist Alexander Mndoyants passed away aged 75. 

The American composer Harold Meltzer passed away at the age of 58.

The Australian Tenor Steve Davislim passed away aged 57. 

Oboist Joan Champie, who was the first woman to join the wind section of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, passed away aged 92. 

Australian Violist John Dean, who was principal viola of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra for over 30 years, passed away aged 90. 

The Italian soprano Celestina Casapietra passed away aged 85. 

The GRAMMY Award-winning bluegrass fiddler Bobby Hicks passed away aged 91. 

The French violinist Maryvonne Le Dizès, who was a member of Ensemble Intercontemporain for more than 20 years, passed away. 

The Russian pianist Mikhail Muntian passed away aged 89. 

Gramophone Magazine’s former editor Christopher Pollard passed away aged 67. 

Violinist Lee Newcomer, who owned the Performers Music store in Chicago, passed away. 

The Chicago jazz bassist Nick Schneider passed away at the age of 81.

Eberhard Wangemann, who was a long-serving violinist in the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, passed away aged 104. 

The British composer Alexander Goehr passed away aged 92. 

The American organist Michael Murray passed away aged 81.

Double bassist Winston “Jack” Budrow passed away aged 79. 

Cellist Gayle Mae Smith, whose mentors included Pablo Casals, William Pleeth, and Gregor Piatigorsky, passed away aged 80. 

Chamber music advocate Anthony Checchia passed away aged 94. 

Conductor Viljar Puu Weimann passed away aged 63. 

Recording executive R. Peter Munves passed away aged 97. 

Cellist Luis Leguia, who pioneered carbon fiber instruments, passed away aged 89. 

Yasuki Nakamura, who transformed the Suzuki method in New South Wales, Australia, passed away at the age of 82.

Boston Globe music critic Richard Dyer passed away aged 82.

The Greek-Australian violinist Spiros Rantos passed away aged 78. 

Cellist Rohan de Saram, who was a member of the acclaimed Arditti Quartet, passed away aged 85. 

Luthier Paul Childs, who was an expert on old French bows, passed away aged 77. 

Violist Yizhak Schotten, who held principal positions with the Cincinnati and Houston Symphony Orchestras, passed away. 

Bassoonist Franck Lavogez, who played with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo for almost three decades, passed away. 

Music executive and ASCAP CEO John Titta passed away. 

Violist and pedagogue Donald McInnes, who collaborated with Bernstein and Menuhin, passed away. 

The Bulgarian violinist Stoika Milanova passed away aged 79.

Arts manager Thomas Wolfram passed away aged 75. 

The Finnish conductor Leif Segerstam passed away aged 80. 

The GRAMMY Award-winning music producer Adam Abeshouse passed away aged 63. 

Double bassist Mat Heighway passed away aged 46.

International Musicians Seminar Prussia Cove’s co-founder Hilary Tunstall-Behrens passed away at age 97.

Tenor Leonardo Navarro passed away at the age of 38. 

Pianist John Barstow, who was a long-serving pedagogue at London’s Royal College of Music, passed away aged 87. 

Violinist Matthew Raimondi, who was a new music specialist, passed away aged 96.

Composer Barbara Kolb, who was the first American woman to win the Rome Prize, passed away aged 85. 

Violinist Peter Zelienka, who was a member of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, passed away. 

American violinist Eric Wicks, who was formerly a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for almost four decades, passed away aged 89. 

Music producer and arranger Quincy Jones passed away aged 91. 

Walfrid Kujala, who played flute and piccolo in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra until 2001, passed away aged 99. 

The Hungarian violinist and pedagogue György Pauk passed away aged 88.

The Russian ballet dancer Vladimir Shklyarov passed away at the age of 39. 

Burton Fine, who spent four decades playing viola in the Boston Symphony, passed away aged 94.

The Spanish soprano Enriqueta Tarrés passed away at the age of 90. 

The French guitarist and composer Valérie Duchâteau passed away aged 50. 

Violinist Laura Samuel, who led the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, passed away aged 48. 

Violinist Tonko Ninić passed away at the age of 90. 

The award-winning tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain passed away aged 73. 

The Korean tenor Sehoon Moon passed away at the age of 40. 

Violinist Eriikka Maalismaa, who served as concertmaster of the Helsinki Philharmonic for ten years, passed away at the age of 44. 

The Australian pianist and educator Dean Sky-Lucas passed away.