Etta James, Powerful Voice Behind ‘At Last,’ Dies at 73

" Etta James, whose powerful, versatile and emotionally direct voice could enliven the raunchiest blues as well as the subtlest love songs, most indelibly in her signature hit, “At Last,” died Friday morning in Riverside, Calif. She was 73."

For the full story, please see the New York Times.

Gustav Leonhardt obituary

"Throughout the second half of the 20th century, Gustav Leonhardt, who has died aged 83, was a pioneer and pillar of the early music movement. As a harpsichordist, organist, scholar, conductor and teacher, he was a major figure, exercising very considerable influence on his contemporaries and juniors, and in particular making the Netherlands a focal centre for the performance of Baroque music, gathering round himself artists such as the recorder virtuoso Frans Brüggen, the viola da gamba player and cellist Anner Bylsma, the cellist and conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Kuijken brothers – Barthold, Sigiswald and Wieland – all now pre-eminent in their fields."

For the full story, please see The Guardian.

In Memoriam: Musicians We Lost In 2011

For the full list, please see NPR.org.

Himie Voxman, emeritus professor and School of Music director, dies at 99

"University of Iowa emeritus professor Himie Voxman, who was the director of the UI School of Music for more than a quarter century (1954-1980) died Tuesday, November 22, 2011, at the age of 99. The Voxman Music Building, which was destroyed by the 2008 flood, was named in his honor in 1995, and the UI named him an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in 2008."

For the full story, please see Performing Arts at Iowa.

Revered maestro Vilem Sokol gave his love of music to all

"He was born in a log cabin in Pennsylvania, but his favorite place became the conductor's podium.

Vilem Sokol, who died Friday of cancer in Seattle at age 96, was the beloved godfather of the city's classical music and an internationally prominent conductor, professor and violist.

As longtime music director of the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra and its Marrowstone Music Festival (1960-1988), and music professor at the University of Washington (1948-1985), Mr. Sokol shaped more than four decades of young talent, inspiring generations of students and listeners."

For the full story, please see the Seattle Times.

Listen to Sokol's recordings at the UW Music Library.

Clarence Clemons, The Big Man In The E Street Band, Has Died

"Clarence Clemons, saxophone player for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, has died of complications of a stroke. He was 69."

For the full story, please see NPR.org.

Milton Babbitt, a Composer Who Gloried in Complexity, Dies at 94

"Milton Babbitt, an influential composer, theorist and teacher who wrote music that was intensely rational and for many listeners impenetrably abstruse, died on Saturday. He was 94 and lived in Princeton, N.J."

For the full story, please see the New York Times.

Learn more about Babbitt's musical life by searching the library catalog.

In Memoriam: Musicians We Lost In 2010

See NPR.org for the full story.

James M. BEALE January 20, 1924 - November 4, 2010

James M. BEALE January 20, 1924 ~ November 4, 2010, composer and long time professor of music at the University of Washington, has died at the age of 86.
For the full story, please see the Seattle Times or the School of Music website. Explore James Beale's compositions at the Music Library.

Seattle conductor killed in Methow Valley crash

"George Shangrow, a longtime Seattle classical-music conductor, teacher and radio host, was killed Saturday evening in a head-on collision outside of Winthrop, Okanogan County."

For the full story, please see the Seattle Times. See also, The Gathering Note.

Mitch Miller Dies

"Mitch Miller, the goateed orchestra leader who asked Americans to "Sing Along With Mitch" on television and records and produced hits for Tony Bennett, Patti Page and other performers, has died at age 99."

For the full story, please see Musical America.

Charles Mackerras, a Wide-Ranging Conductor, Dies

"Charles Mackerras, a conductor who championed the work of Czech composers, especially Janacek, and had associations with many of Britain’s major orchestras and opera houses, died Wednesday night, his management agency said. He was 84."

For the full story, please see the New York Times.

Omar Hernández-Hidalgo, 1971-2010

"There’s a lot of shock and sadness in the Mexican classical community just now: last week one of the finest violists in Mexico and the world, Omar Hernández-Hidalgo, was found dead in his hometown of Tijuana, four days after apparently being kidnapped."

For the full story, please see Sequenza21.

Anneliese Rothenberger, German Opera Singer, Dies

"Anneliese Rothenberger, an internationally known German soprano who sang with the Metropolitan Opera in New York in the 1960s, died on Monday in Switzerland. As befits a diva, her exact age had long been shrouded in obscurity; she was believed to have been either 83 or 85."

For the full story, please see the New York Times.

Yvonne Loriod, Pianist and Messiaen Muse, Dies at 86

"Yvonne Loriod, the French pianist whose musical exactitude and intensity inspired numerous masterpieces by her husband, the composer Olivier Messiaen, died on Monday at a retirement home in Saint-Denis, on the edge of Paris. She was 86."

For the full story, please see the New York Times.

Opera enthusiast Perry Lorenzo, of Seattle, dies at 51

"'Perry was completely dedicated to opera,' said Speight Jenkins, director of the Seattle Opera, who hired Mr. Lorenzo as education director 17 years ago. 'He was a speaker who could affect and connect with absolutely anyone.' Mr. Lorenzo, 51, died Saturday (Dec. 19) after a seven-month battle with lung cancer."

For the full story, please see the Seattle Times.

Mary Curtis-Verna

"Mary Curtis-Verna, beautiful outstanding international star of the Metropolitan Opera and La Scala[to mention only a few!] passed away at her Seattle home December 4, 2009... UW Music Department won Mary for the Head of the Voice Department, a position she retained until her retirement."

For the full story, please see the Seattle Times and Can Belto.

HC Robbins Landon

"HC Robbins Landon, the musicologist, who died on November 20 aged 83, can be said to have done for classical music what Kenneth Clark did for art; and his reputation, based on his achievement in unearthing much of what has become the staple Haydn repertoire, was only slightly tarnished when, in 1993, he became the victim of a musical hoax."

For the full article, please see theTelegraph.

Leon Kirchner, Composer and Teacher, Dies at 90

"Leon Kirchner, the eminent American composer who was also a pianist, a conductor and an influential teacher, died on Thursday at his home on Central Park West in Manhattan. He was 90."

For the full story, please see the New York Times. To hear Krichner's music, follow this link to the UW catalog.

Les Paul, Guitar Innovator, Dies at 94

"Les Paul, the virtuoso guitarist and inventor whose solid-body electric guitar and recording studio innovations changed the course of 20th-century popular music, died Thursday in White Plains, N.Y. . He was 94."

For the full story, please see the New York Times.