Latest news with #RogerNorrington
4 days ago
- Entertainment
Acclaimed conductor Roger Norrington dead at age 91
Roger Norrington, a conductor acclaimed for historically informed performances during more than a half-century leading orchestras in Europe and the United States, has died. He was 91. Norrington died Friday at his home, his son Tom said Saturday. Norrington lived outside Exeter, England. Norrington conducted both period-instruments and modern orchestras, asking both types to play without vibrato and usually at faster tempi than modern practice. 'He was an extraordinary dramatist. He made things happen emotionally,' Myron Lutzke, an Orchestra of St. Luke's cellist who helped persuade Norrington to become music director, said Saturday. 'He had his detractors, certainly, and some of them were some of my best friends. But for me, he got the music off the page. He made the concert experience transformative.' Born on March 16, 1934, Norrington was the son of Arthur, president of Trinity College, Oxford, and the former Edith Carver. A violinist and boy soprano in his youth, Roger attended The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Dragon School, Westminster School, Cambridge and the Royal College of Music, where he studied under conductor Adrian Boult. In 1962, Norrington founded the Schütz Choir, originally dedicated to the works of Heinrich Schütz. He became music director of Kent Opera from 1969-84, the Bournemouth Sinfonietta from 1985-89 and New York's Orchestra of St. Luke's from 1990-94. He was principal conductor of Camerata Salzburg from 1997 to 2006, the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1998 to 2011 and the Zurich Chamber Orchestra from 2011-16. 'Orchestras didn't generally use vibrato until the 1930s,' Norrington told The Guardian in 2007. 'It is a fashion, like smoking, which came in at about the same time. Smoking is now going, so maybe vibrato will too. ... I have discovered, all the way from Monteverdi to Mahler, is that when music is played as it should be, the sound is wonderful, the expression is wonderful and the instruments match together.' Norrington was nominated for four Grammy Awards and won in 2001 for a recording of Nicholas Maw's Violin Concerto with Joshua Bell and the London Philharmonic. Norrington retired after conducting the Royal Northern Sinfonia in an all-Hadyn concert on Nov. 18, 2021. 'I have enjoyed every minute of over 50 years of making music with some of the most wonderful and talented musicians in the world," he said in a statement. 'The time has come to step off the podium.' His first marriage, to Susan McLean May, ended in a divorce in 1982. He married the choreographer Kay Lawrence in the mid-1980s; she died last year. Norrington was made a Knight Bachelor in 1997.
New York Post
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Acclaimed conductor Roger Norrington dead at 91
Roger Norrington, a conductor acclaimed for historically informed performances during more than a half-century leading orchestras in Europe and the United States, has died. He was 91. Norrington died Friday at his home, his son Tom said Saturday. Norrington lived outside Exeter, England. Norrington conducted both period-instruments and modern orchestras, asking both types to play without vibrato and usually at faster tempi than modern practice. Advertisement 3 Norrington died Friday at his home, his son Tom said Saturday. ullstein bild via Getty Images 'He was an extraordinary dramatist. He made things happen emotionally,' Myron Lutzke, an Orchestra of St. Luke's cellist who helped persuade Norrington to become music director, said Saturday. 'He had his detractors, certainly, and some of them were some of my best friends. But for me, he got the music off the page. He made the concert experience transformative.' Born on March 16, 1934, Norrington was the son of Arthur, president of Trinity College, Oxford, and the former Edith Carver. A violinist and boy soprano in his youth, Roger attended The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Dragon School, Westminster School, Cambridge and the Royal College of Music, where he studied under conductor Adrian Boult. Advertisement In 1962, Norrington founded the Schütz Choir, originally dedicated to the works of Heinrich Schütz. He became music director of Kent Opera from 1969-84, the Bournemouth Sinfonietta from 1985-89 and New York's Orchestra of St. Luke's from 1990-94. He was principal conductor of Camerata Salzburg from 1997 to 2006, the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1998 to 2011 and the Zurich Chamber Orchestra from 2011-16. 3 Prince Charles, Prince of Wales with conductor Sir Roger Norrington after awarding him Doctor of Music as he attends the Royal College of Music's music awards awards on March 10, 2016 in London, England. Getty Images 'Orchestras didn't generally use vibrato until the 1930s,' Norrington told The Guardian in 2007. 'It is a fashion, like smoking, which came in at about the same time. Smoking is now going, so maybe vibrato will too. … I have discovered, all the way from Monteverdi to Mahler, is that when music is played as it should be, the sound is wonderful, the expression is wonderful and the instruments match together.' Advertisement Norrington was nominated for four Grammy Awards and won in 2001 for a recording of Nicholas Maw's Violin Concerto with Joshua Bell and the London Philharmonic. Norrington retired after conducting the Royal Northern Sinfonia in an all-Hadyn concert on Nov. 18, 2021. 'I have enjoyed every minute of over 50 years of making music with some of the most wonderful and talented musicians in the world,' he said in a statement. 'The time has come to step off the podium.' 3 Sir Roger Norrington conducts Orchestra of St. Luke's in Brahms's 'Symphony No. 4 in E Minor' at Carnegie Hall on Thursday night, February 15, 2007. Getty Images His first marriage, to Susan McLean May, ended in a divorce in 1982. He married the choreographer Kay Lawrence in the mid-1980s; she died last year. Advertisement Norrington was made a Knight Bachelor in 1997. He is survived by Tom and two children from his first marriage, Ben and Amy.
Associated Press
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Acclaimed conductor Roger Norrington dead at age 91
Roger Norrington, a conductor acclaimed for historically informed performances during more than a half-century leading orchestras in Europe and the United States, has died. He was 91. Norrington died Friday at his home, his son Tom said Saturday. Norrington lived outside Exeter, England. Norrington conducted both period-instruments and modern orchestras, asking both types to play without vibrato and usually at faster tempi than modern practice. 'He was an extraordinary dramatist. He made things happen emotionally,' Myron Lutzke, an Orchestra of St. Luke's cellist who helped persuade Norrington to become music director, said Saturday. 'He had his detractors, certainly, and some of them were some of my best friends. But for me, he got the music off the page. He made the concert experience transformative.' Born on March 16, 1934, Norrington was the son of Arthur, president of Trinity College, Oxford, and the former Edith Carver. A violinist and boy soprano in his youth, Roger attended The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Dragon School, Westminster School, Cambridge and the Royal College of Music, where he studied under conductor Adrian Boult. In 1962, Norrington founded the Schütz Choir, originally dedicated to the works of Heinrich Schütz. He became music director of Kent Opera from 1969-84, the Bournemouth Sinfonietta from 1985-89 and New York's Orchestra of St. Luke's from 1990-94. He was principal conductor of Camerata Salzburg from 1997 to 2006, the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1998 to 2011 and the Zurich Chamber Orchestra from 2011-16. 'Orchestras didn't generally use vibrato until the 1930s,' Norrington told The Guardian in 2007. 'It is a fashion, like smoking, which came in at about the same time. Smoking is now going, so maybe vibrato will too. ... I have discovered, all the way from Monteverdi to Mahler, is that when music is played as it should be, the sound is wonderful, the expression is wonderful and the instruments match together.' Norrington was nominated for four Grammy Awards and won in 2001 for a recording of Nicholas Maw's Violin Concerto with Joshua Bell and the London Philharmonic. Norrington retired after conducting the Royal Northern Sinfonia in an all-Hadyn concert on Nov. 18, 2021. 'I have enjoyed every minute of over 50 years of making music with some of the most wonderful and talented musicians in the world,' he said in a statement. 'The time has come to step off the podium.' His first marriage, to Susan McLean May, ended in a divorce in 1982. He married the choreographer Kay Lawrence in the mid-1980s; she died last year. Norrington was made a Knight Bachelor in 1997. He is survived by Tom and two children from his first marriage, Ben and Amy.
New York Times
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Roger Norrington, Iconoclastic British Conductor, Dies at 91
Roger Norrington, the English conductor who became a star of the historically informed performance movement by provocatively applying scholarly research about tempos and tone production to a broad expanse of the symphonic repertoire, from Beethoven to Mahler and even the modernist Stravinsky, died on Friday at his home outside of Exeter, England. He was 91. His death was confirmed by his friend and musical colleague Evans Mirageas, who is the artistic director of the Cincinnati Opera. Mr. Norrington was known for his brisk, lively and often audacious performances of Handel, Mozart and Haydn before he turned his attention to Beethoven and Berlioz; after that, he forged deeper into the 19th and early 20th centuries. He led both period-instrument and modern orchestras, using the same interpretive principles, and though some of his performances drew criticism for their brash iconoclasm, many listeners regarded them as insightful and refreshingly original. Lanky, bespectacled, bearded and balding, Mr. Norrington projected both affability and authority, and he loved making the case for his ideas — not only in interviews but also in seemingly off-the-cuff comments at his concerts. He often cited centuries-old treatises as well as his delight in the 'pure' sound, as he put it, of strings playing without vibrato. He once famously referred to vibrato as 'a modern drug.' Toward the end of his career, he preferred to conduct while seated, usually on a high swivel chair that allowed him to turn to the audience to smile conspiratorially at a light moment within the music, and even to encourage applause. He was known to tell audiences that they could applaud between the movements of a symphony or a concerto, a common practice in the 18th and 19th centuries that is frowned on today. He reveled in being provocative. In a 2021 interview with The Telegraph, he referred to his 2007 recording of Mahler's Second Symphony as his 'last hand grenade.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sir Roger Norrington, conductor who championed period instruments and called vibrato a ‘modern drug'
Sir Roger Norrington, who has died aged 91, was a leading figure in the period-instrument movement and a vigorous and often controversial champion of musical authenticity. Norrington's search for authenticity moved well beyond using period instruments and into the more contentious areas of tempi and technique, in which he waged campaigns in favour of composers' metronome markings, and against the 'modern drug' of vibrato which, he claimed, orchestras did not generally use until the 1930s. But while most critics accepted his treatment of the Baroque and Classical repertoire where his pioneering work with the Schütz Choir and the London Classical Players revealed the original beauty and transparency of harmony, some balked at the idea of Beethoven, Berlioz, Wagner or Mahler being given the Norrington treatment. His interpretations of Beethoven in particular, sticking as they did to the composer's own metronome markings, were dismissed by some as 'implausibly fast'. Yet others found his performances a revelation, and his pioneering set of the Beethoven symphonies with the period instruments of the London Classical Players, recorded for EMI in the 1980s, won prizes around the world and lobbed a grenade at a symphony-orchestra establishment still wedded to the lush 'monumental' interpretations associated with Klemperer and von Karajan. Roger Arthur Carver Norrington was born in Oxford on March 16 1934 into a university family. His father, Sir Arthur Norrington, was vice-chancellor of Oxford and the originator of the Norrington league table, which ranks Oxford colleges. Both parents were musical, having met while singing Gilbert and Sullivan in an amateur production. His mother was a good pianist, and the young Roger learnt the violin and sang as a boy soprano. After being evacuated to Canada during the war, he returned home to Oxford aged 10, and was sent to the Dragon School, where he auditioned for the chorus in Iolanthe and was given the lead. He went on to Westminster School, and then, after National Service as an RAF fighter controller in Bournemouth, read English at Clare College, Cambridge. After graduation he took a job at Oxford University Press, where he published religious books. In his spare time he sang as a tenor in a couple of choirs, played in an orchestra and in quartets and did the odd bit of conducting. In the early 1960s he 'stumbled upon' the work of Heinrich Schütz, then a relatively unknown 17th-century German composer, whose work had just been published in Germany. Determined to perform as much of it as possible, in 1962 Norrington formed the Schütz Choir and put on a performance in London. In the audience was the principal of the Royal College of Music, Keith Falkner, who invited Norrington to study at the college. Resigning his post at OUP, he studied conducting under Sir Adrian Boult, played percussion in the RCM orchestra and continued his studies in the history of the orchestra. In 1972, the Schütz Choir was wound up and Norrington then undertook the first period-instrument Messiah – in Handel's church in Hanover Square, London – and Monteverdi's Vespers. In 1978 he founded the London Classical Players with whom, over the next 20 years, he expanded his investigations of the repertoire, consulting the best scholars to ask about how the music would have been played in the composer's day. From 1969 to 1984 he was music director of Kent Opera, conducting more than 400 performances of 40 different works. Norrington's Beethoven recordings were followed by other no less stimulating interpretations of other 18th- and 19th-century composers. He became the first to conduct authentic period-instrument performances of Haydn's Creation, Mozart's Magic Flute, Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, Brahms's Symphony No 1 and many other works. But he did not confine himself to period instruments and saw it as important to get an authentic sound out of modern instruments. He worked as a guest conductor with orchestras around Europe and America, conducted at Covent Garden and the English National Opera and in Italy at La Scala, La Fenice and the Maggio Musicale. A Norrington concert was an unusual experience, the performance often peppered with chummy asides and mini-lectures from the conductor. The highlight of his concert career was the 'Experiences', a series of intensive whole weekends at London's South Bank devoted to studying and performing the work of particular composers. Behind the friendly chat, some found there was a didactic quality to Norrington's music-making which allowed little room for opposition. Yet righteous indignation of traditionalists merely seemed to fuel Norrington's evangelical fire and he particularly enjoyed producing the historical evidence to trounce his critics. In the 1990s he became closely associated with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, which took over the work of the London Classical Players in 1997. But he spent increasing amounts of time abroad, becoming principal conductor of the Camerata Salzburg in 1997 and, the following year, chief conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, which he took to London in 2016 to give the orchestra's final performance, at the Proms, before its merger with SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg. If Norrington's interpretations of Beethoven sent shockwaves through the musical establishment, the response to his interpretations of Wagner and Mahler was even more polarised: his non-vibrato recording of Mahler's second symphony with the Stuttgart orchestra provoked gasps of horror from traditionalists. In other Proms appearances he conducted the First Night in 2006 and the Last Night in 2008. He was principal conductor of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra from 2011. In the early 1990s Norrington was diagnosed with skin cancer, and in 1995 he underwent successful surgery to remove a brain tumour. Roger Norrington was appointed OBE in 1980, advanced to CBE in 1990, and was knighted in 1997. He was twice married, first, in 1964 (dissolved 1982), to Susan McLean May, with whom he had a son and a daughter, and secondly, in 1986, to the dancer and choreographer Kay Lawrence, with whom he formed the Early Opera Project to complement his concert work in period-style opera, and with whom he had a son. Sir Roger Norrington, born March 16 1934, died July 18 2025 Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Solve the daily Crossword
