ISM MUSIC JOURNAL SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 | NEWS FROM OUR MEMBERS
NEWS FROM OUR MEMBERS We welcome your brief news (max. 150 words) and high res images. Please email mj@ism.org. The next deadline for copy is 1 October 2020 for the November/December issue.
Elizabeth de la Porte FISM
15 September 1941 – 09 April 2020
20 May 1950 – 24 June 2020
ISM member since 1989
ISM member since 2011
A tribute by her daughter Leonora Dawson-Bowling
The concert organist Jane Parker-Smith, a pupil of Nicolas Kynaston and Jean Langlais, made her London debut at Westminster Cathedral at the age of 20, followed by a first solo concert appearance in the BBC Promenade Concerts at the Royal Albert Hall two years later. She performed at major venues and international festivals all over the world, as both recitalist and concerto soloist, recorded a wide range of solo repertoire for major labels and broadcast regularly on radio and television. The critic Paul Driver described her as ‘the Martha Argerich of the organ’.
Harpsichordist, pianist and Baroque specialist Elizabeth de la Porte, who taught at the Royal College of Music Junior Department for 55 years, died earlier this year after five wonderfully positive months back at home with her dear family following a difficult illness last year. Born in Johannesburg, the daughter of opera singer Betsy de la Porte, she studied at the Vienna Academy before moving to the UK where she performed and recorded her beloved Bach, Couperin and more besides, and inspired generations of her RCM and Canterbury students with a passion for music. Described by colleagues and students as ‘supportive and encouraging’, ‘kind’, ‘a dear friend’ and a ‘shining light’, she wore her enormous musical intellect lightly and combined her musical teachings with guidance on presentation and a very real personal interest in each student. A talented musician and a wonderful person, she is sorely missed but lives on in the gifts she gave to so many.
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Jane Parker-Smith MISM
‘Jane was an outstanding concert organist with a fiery technique that matched her exuberant personality,’ writes Gerard Brooks, President of the Royal College of Organists. ‘She made light of even the most demanding showpieces, dazzling her listeners with interpretations that were sometimes highly personal but never dull. Attending one of her concerts was always an event, and she will be greatly missed.’
Anne Marsden Thomas, co-founder of the Society of Women Organists, writes: ‘Losing two such iconic women organists within a few months of each other is a terrible blow. Jennifer Bate, our generous Patron, was to have given a concert for the Society of Women Organists in November 2020 – a unique concert, with many young female organists in the audience, and a reception afterwards for them to meet the performer. When Jennifer became ill, Jane ParkerSmith accepted the concert invitation, and she would have been an equally brilliant performer; she was a charismatic personality, guaranteed to inspire those who heard and met her. Now the concert itself is postponed until 2021, but we will certainly remember fondly both Jennifer and Jane, honouring their memory as we move forward.’
Philip Colls Diamond Jubilee concert in Gloucestershire. Philip Colls has been conducting The Cappella Singers since 1981. The choir, founded in 1960, celebrates its Diamond Jubilee in a concert at Holy Trinity Church, Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire on Saturday 10 October. The choir is joined by five soloists and the baroque instruments of Warwick Cole’s Corelli Orchestra in Bach’s Mass in G minor and works by Purcell and Handel. Mark Blatchly has composed a specially commissioned setting of ‘O sing unto the Lord a new song’. You are advised to obtain tickets in advance. For more information see cappellasingers.co.uk
