Category Archives: Obituaries

We were shocked to hear of the sudden death, on April 10th, of David Angel – 2nd violin of the Maggini Quartet. His quartet colleagues, Julian, Martin and Michal write:

“David Angel sadly died on the evening of Monday 10^th April, unexpectedly, of a presumed heart attack, on a Maggini Quartet course in Oxford. He died doing what he loved and excelled at – playing, sharing and teaching his total passion for music. A human and musical giant for all who knew him and were fortunate enough to work with him. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and his many colleagues.”

David Angel was a founder pupil of the Yehudi Menuhin School, where he studied with Yehudi Menuhin, Frederick Grinke, Jacqueline Salomons and Nadia Boulanger. In 1971 he won an Associated Board Scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, continuing his studies with Frederick Grinke and receiving chamber music coaching from Sidney Griller, winning prizes for both solo and chamber music. He was a co-founder of the Maggini Quartet in 1988.

David’s solo playing has received acclaim, winning high praise in The Times for performances of Bach’s Chaconne and E major Concerto with the London Contemporary Dance, and in the Financial Times in 1988 for a performance at the Almeida Festival. He played ‘Autumn’ from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons on many occasions, notably at the Barbican with the London Mozart Players, and was also a soloist with London Musici.

Co-leader of the second violin section of the London Mozart Players, he led the second violins of many of the leading London chamber orchestras including London Chamber Orchestra, London Musici, Orchestra of St. John’s and Sinfonia 21.

David had a long-standing duo with pianist David Elwin, with collaborations including their maiden tour of Japan in 2007. He was also in great demand as an ensemble player, working with Divertimenti, ‘Jeux’, Capricorn and the Prometheus Ensemble.

He was an ARAM and in demand as a teacher and chamber music coach; in autumn 1993 he was appointed Professor of quartet playing at Birmingham Conservatoire. He was also an Honorary Fellow of Canterbury Christ Church University and Brunel University.

More about David can be found at www.maggini.net

We were saddened to hear of the death of cellist and teacher William “Bill” Roskelly on 24th February, aged 97.

William – known to all his friends as Bill – began cello lessons at the age of 7 and won a scholarship to the RCM in 1928, aged 19. However his studies were interrupted in 1940 when he signed up with the RAF Volunteer Reserve along with many of his classmates. Bill was posted to 217 Squadron at RAF St Eval in Cornwall, part of Coastal Command.  His active service took him to the Shetland Islands, Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone, Rhodesia, South Africa and finally to Ceylon. Only 3% of this sqadron made it through two tours of operations and so Bill was immensely lucky to survive 6 years of service as a gunner/navigator and then as a pilot – despite several crashes!

 

Bill resumed his studies in 1946 and, needing to have financial stability, he abandoned his plans to become a soloist and instead managed to secure a position wit the LSO, and also played with the Royal Opera House orchestra – a punishing schedule. In 1953 he took a sabbatical year in order to further his cello studies under Pablo Casals in France, and after 10 years with the LSO – and with a young family to provide for – Bill decided to turn to teaching.

 

After initially working in Staffordshire he accepted a position as Music Advisor in the London Borough of Newham, a post he held until 1984, when he performed the slow movement of the Elgar Concerto to mark his retirement. In 2015 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from ESTA.

 

We will be printing a more detailed article about Bill’s fascinating life in the June edition of Arco.