Obituary Autumn 2024

In memory

The Royal College of Music was saddened to learn of the deaths of a number of former students and staff. 

John Barstow  

John Barstow, Royal College of Music alumnus and distinguished keyboard teacher at both the College and the Junior Department, died on 11 October 2024 aged 87.  

John Dennis Barstow, MBE FRCM, was born on 21 May 1937 in Morley, West Yorkshire. On leaving school, he studied at Leeds College with Hans Solty, a pupil of Busoni, who emphasised the efficient acquisition of technique at the service of tonal warmth and detailed study of musical scores; all qualities that marked out John’s subsequent work as both performer and teacher.  

Entering the Royal College of Music in 1954, John studied with Cyril Smith and (after a break for National Service) won all the significant prizes. It was characteristic of his later career that his College concerto performances included Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto and the Toccata by Peter Racine Fricker – as well as Ravel’s Piano Trio and an early student performance of Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du Temps. Success in the National Federation of Music Societies Award (1961) led to a Wigmore Hall debut, a full schedule of performances, and a busy BBC career notable for broadcasts of repertoire ranging from Byrd to Boulez – and a memorable performance of the Rachmaninov’s Second Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sir Malcolm Arnold in the 1968 BBC Proms season.  

John Barstow enjoyed a long and distinguished association with the RCM, teaching in the Junior Department for 50 years and Senior College for 44. He was awarded the Fellowship in 1981. Students (who knew him as ‘J.B.’) reported that he encouraged great sensitivity to sound and technical mastery in a wide range of music while enthusiastically developing their wider musicianship and culture. His practical demonstrations inspired, but it was his ethics, humour, and generosity that built confidence and freedom. He would even personally subsidise pupils who may have struggled to afford the price of tickets to attend important concerts.  

In 1966, John received a ten-minute standing ovation for his performance in the Tchaikovsky Competition, so it was particularly satisfying that, 20 years later, his pupil Barry Douglas became the outright winner. John Barstow was appointed MBE in 2006 and retired as a Senior RCM professor in 2009. 

James Lisney

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Margaret Cable

Margaret Cable, a mezzo soprano who studied at the Royal College of Music and later became Head of Vocal Studies at the College, has died at the age of 82. 

Margaret Cable won a Scholarship and Exhibition to the RCM, where she studied voice and piano, the former with Cuthbert Smith. She was a student at the College between 1960 and 1963, winning the Giulia Grisi Prize in 1962 and, in 1963, both the Clara Butt Award and Agnes Nicholls Harty Trophy. In September 1964 she was appointed a singing teacher, and was awarded the FRCM 20 years later. In 1992 she was appointed Head of Vocal Studies. As RCM Head of Vocal & Opera Nick Sears put it: ‘In addition to her many years of regular teaching at the College, for five years Margaret was Head of Vocal Studies at the RCM. A vibrant, dedicated and inspiring individual, Margaret deserves our thanks and gratitude for her part in helping build the Faculty into the international centre it has become today, and for enabling so many singers to fulfil their potential as a result of the mentorship they received during their time at the RCM.’

Alongside her tireless contribution to College life, Margaret performed internationally across Europe and America, and at festivals such as the BBC Proms, Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Utrecht, and the Three Choirs Festival. She was similarly active in the recording studio, with albums including collaborations with the Bach Choir and London Symphony Orchestra conducted by former RCM Director Sir David Willcocks, madrigals directed by Sir Peter Pears, and with the authentic performance movement in recordings such as an acclaimed Messiah conducted by Andrew Parrott. She served as Warden of the Solo Performers Section of the Incorporated Society of Musicians, was in demand as an adjudicator and examiner, and gave numerous masterclasses. She is fondly remembered by many in the College as a former teaching colleague, fellow performer and close friend.

April Cantelo

April Cantelo, who studied at the Royal College of Music before becoming a celebrated soprano, died on 16 July at the age of 96. 

April Cantelo (main picture above) was born on 2 April 1928 in Hampshire, and went to school in Chelmsford before studying voice and piano at the Royal College of Music, where her vocal studies were led by Julian Kimbell and Frederic Jackson. She also received six months of vocal tuition from alumna Imogen Holst following a successful audition at Dartington Hall. 

Early performance experience came with the Deller Consort and Glyndebourne chorus, where she met another RCM alumnus, Colin Davis, in 1948. They were married until 1964 and she was the main breadwinner during the early part of his conducting career. Cantelo made her solo operatic debut in 1950 at the Edinburgh Festival, after which roles at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and Aldeburgh Festival followed. A versatile soprano with exceptional acting skills, her repertoire encompassed music from the Baroque to the contemporary, and she originated a number of roles including Helena in the premiere of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Aldeburgh in 1960.  

Appearances at the BBC Proms included Vaughan Williams’ Pastoral Symphony, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Haydn’s Nelson Mass, and works by Monteverdi, Purcell, Berlioz and Malcolm Williamson. She performed in the inaugural recital at the Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room in 1967 alongside regular collaborator Raymond Leppard, with whom she also worked in the recording studio. Other recording highlights include Handel’s Ode for St Ceclia’s Day conducted by former Director of the Royal College of Music, David Willcocks, and Miss Wordsworth in Britten’s Albert Herring. Cantelo is survived by her daughter Suzanne, three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

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Iain Fowler

Iain Fowler, former Assistant Director of the Royal College of Music Junior Department, died on 7 October 2024. 

Iain Fowler, HonRCM, DipSAMD, ARCM, Dip Couns, MBACP, was born in January 1951 in Arbroath, Scotland and studied piano at the Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) in Glasgow.  He was organist at the Cathedral of the Isles, a Category A listed Cathedral on the Isle of Cumbrae, and after moving to London, Iain joined the RCM Junior Department (RCMJD) as a staff accompanist.  He would later admit that because he was an accomplished sight-reader, he possibly didn’t practise as much as he should have done, but he was well liked by staff and students and was later promoted to RCMJD Orchestra Manager and Librarian.  Iain then became Orchestra Manager at Trinity College of Music, before returning to the RCMJD in the early 1980s as Assistant Director.  

RCMJD Performance Manager John Mitchell says: ‘Those of us who knew Iain will remember his warm, open and welcoming demeanour, an infectious sense of humour and his deeply caring nature; so much so that in the mid 1990s he retrained as a counsellor and subsequently undertook this role at the RCM.  Though always discreet about his achievements, Iain worked incredibly hard for his qualifications and his 30-or-so years at the RCM undoubtedly had a significant impact on the lives of the countless numbers of students whose journeys were lucky enough to cross Iain’s path.  After retiring from the College, Iain, together with Rob, his partner of 34 years, moved to Devon, where he spent much of his time enjoying the peace and quiet of the countryside, gardening, and the company of their cats.’ 

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Ian Keatley

Ian Keatley, RCM alumnus and former Director of Music at Southwark Cathedral, has died at the age of 42. 

Born in Belfast in 1982, Ian first sparked his love for church music singing in choirs around the city before taking up his first organ scholarship position at Methodist College at the age of 14. After school, he sang at Wells Cathedral and became assistant organist of Croydon Minster before coming to the Royal College of Music to take up undergraduate studies on the organ, studying with Ashley Stafford and Margaret Phillips, who describes him as ‘a delightful person and very talented’.  

Whilst at the College, Ian became organ scholar of Southwark Cathedral, a place with which he had been enchanted since his first visit aged seven. After he graduated in 2004, he became organ scholar at Westminster Abbey, before moving to Dublin to direct the music at Christchurch Cathedral. Finally, in 2019, he returned to his spiritual home of Southwark, where he was the much beloved Director of Music until he died.  

As soprano and RCM alumna Nina Bennet recalls: ‘I first met Ian at the RCM in 2001 when I was on the postgraduate early music course. Keyboardists who could read figured bass were in short supply that year, so we had to bribe and cajole undergrads like Ian to come and accompany our classes. I remember being amazed at how modest he was about his bountiful talents, and how extremely snazzily dressed he was for someone so young. I caught up with him after College whenever I was in Dublin (including one notable evening where he insisted we wear black tie for a dinner party at a mutual friend’s and we later ended up in a bar in Leopardstown where the rest of the clientele were mostly wearing overalls). I last saw Ian two months before he died conducting a huge diocesan evensong at Southwark, where both my daughters were singing as part of Croydon Minster choir. As the Dean, Mark Oakley wrote later, the service filled the nave with “beauty and joy”, and “his passion for church music was infectious”. Ian’s personality and laughter filled every room he entered, and his zest for life, food, wine, travel and excellence in music will leave a hole in the lives of all who knew him.’

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Joanne May

Joanne May, who trained as a percussionist at the Royal College of Music and went on to have a colourful and varied musical career, died earlier this year.  

Joanne May was born in 1971 and entered the RCM in 1989. She studied percussion with Michael Skinner and Kevin Hathway, timpani with Janos Keszei and Andrew Smith, and piano with Patricia Carroll. Joanne’s prizes included, in 1992, Second Prize in the British Reserve Percussion Prize, the Cobbett & Hurlstone Prize Competition for performance, and the Bernard Stevens & Cyril Rootham Prize for overall results. She also won the British Reserve Percussion Prize in 1993.  

Joanne (known as Jo) began her career working with orchestras such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra and English National Ballet, performing in venues around the UK, including at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall. A trip to Sidmouth Folk Festival in 1996 sparked an enthusiasm for traditional music and led to Jo’s involvement in various folk lineups as well as study trips to Senegal, exploring drumming and balafon playing.  
  
Jo recorded and performed with Zoox, Against the Grain, Token Women, Moirai Euro Dance Band, Folk Dance Remixed, Stepling, Intarsia, Chodompa Music, and many more. In addition to performing, Jo ran spoon-playing workshops for schools, teachers’ conferences, training sessions, festivals and community groups around the UK and overseas. Highlights include the Music and Drama Education Expos in London and Manchester and an appearance on CBeebies.  
  
As her brother Roger May says, ‘Jo will be remembered for her zest and zeal for all things percussion, and the enthusiasm she had for bringing people together to participate in music-making for the sheer joy of it!’   

Tessa Robbins

Tessa Robbins, later known as Tessa Robbins-Khambatta, alumna and violin professor at the Royal College of Music, died in 2023.  

Born in 1930, Tessa studied at the Royal College of Music and at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles. She was a prize-winner in the 1955 sixth edition of the Queen Elisabeth Competition and subsequently became a violin professor at the RCM.   

Tessa was a celebrated violinist, giving many solo concerto performances throughout the 1950s, 60s and 70s. She also produced several recordings during that time, among which were studio and live performances of the Goossens Phantasy Concerto, of which she was the dedicatee. Tessa performed a solo concerto at the BBC Proms almost every year for several successive years.  

In the 1970s and 80s, Tessa could be found as an orchestral player in the BBC Symphony Orchestra and in the London Bach Orchestra, where she also was sometimes engaged as soloist. There were performances at the Southbank Centre of Vivaldi, Bottesini (in the Grand Duo with Thomas Martin) and a radio broadcast presented by Vilém Tauský in which they remembered her earlier  solo career.  

In the 1990s, Tessa gave a handful of solo concerts, although she was gradually making fewer such appearances. In 1999, she was invited by Wellington College Head of Strings, Mark Kelly, to play a recital as part of their celebrity recitals series, which may have been her final solo performance.

Ben Thapa

Ben Thapa, who studied at the Royal College of Music before becoming a star tenor at part of G4, died on 8 September 2024 at the age of 42, after a short illness.   

Ben studied as a postgraduate at the Royal College of Music from 2007 to 2008. In addition to the RCM, Ben studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Royal Northern College of Music and the Wales Academy of Voice & Dramatic Arts. His early potential had been recognised when he became a member of the National Youth Choir, in which he was a long-standing and beloved tenor section leader.   

Ben found fame as a member of the classical-crossover group G4, formed during his time at the Guildhall. The group came second in the first series of The X Factor in 2004. Ben went on to have a distinguished career in opera, oratorio, choral and liturgical music. He was much in demand for his powerful yet beautiful tenor voice, which he used to wonderfully expressive effect. As Ben reached his 40s, realising his voice’ s dramatic potential, he started to excel in sacred music by Elgar and Verdi, as well as exploring the operatic works of Wagner. He also developed his passion for choral conducting, showing a kind confidence and authority.   

Ben’ s enthusiasm for all aspects of the music industry was contagious. Many friends and colleagues benefitted from in-depth discussions with him about vocal technique, famous singers, and repertoire. Similarly, Ben could not show a passing interest in any hobby; he would always become an expert. He immersed himself in the history, culture and statistics of cricket, gin, perfume and football (Ben was a passionate Cambridge United FC supporter). So many of those who worked with Ben have spoken of his generosity as a colleague. He always had time to offer support, and often acted as a mentor for younger singers. Ben left us too soon, but his infectious musicianship and generous spirit of collegiality will live on in the music community and beyond.  

RCM Head of V&O Nick Sears added: ‘Ben was a fine tenor, and during his time at the RCM was always personable, communicative and collaborative.’  

Graham Neal 

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Lyndon Van der Pump

The Reverend Charles Lyndon Van der Pump, former vocal professor and great supporter of the Royal College of Music, died in the summer of 2024. 

Born in Swansea in 1925, Lyndon Van der Pump enjoyed a distinguished career as a Lieder recitalist. He began teaching singing to actors at the Webber Douglas Academy and at RADA, and then taught choral scholars at Cambridge.

He was invited to become a vocal professor at the Royal College of Music in 1971, where he worked until 1994. Deciding to follow a long-term religious commitment, Lyndon became an Anglican priest in 1988, based at St Mary the Virgin, Primrose Hill. He officially retired in 2004, but continued to take services until 2019 and to give spiritual counselling until very recently.

Lyndon and his partner of 65 years, fellow RCM vocal professor Edward Brooks, now 95, supported numerous vocal activities at the College and beyond, including the Brooks-Van der Pump English Song Competition. They were also central in the setting up and support of the Joan Chissell Schumann Competition, both at the RCM and at the Royal Academy of Music. Lyndon’s funeral took place on 3 June at St Mary’s and is available online.

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Timothy Watts

Timothy Watts, who studied oboe at the Royal College of Music before becoming an integral part of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, died in the summer of 2024. 

Timothy (known as Tim) was a postgraduate student at the Royal College of Music between 1979 and 1981, studying on the advanced study course and reaching the top grade for oboist at the end of his first year, when he was awarded an Exhibition. He studied with Sarah Francis whom, in the words of colleague and RCM oboe professor John Anderson, ‘he greatly admired. She praised his ability to play quietly in the low register; such an asset for an oboist.’ Tim gained the ARCM Diploma in Oboe Performance in April 1980. He won the Munster Award in July 1980 and the Joy Boughton Memorial Prize for Oboe in July 1981. Tim’ s widow, Adrienne Black, recalls that he funded his studies by working at English National Opera tearing tickets, and busking at Covent Garden, and nurtured his love of opera playing in pit orchestras. Tim went on to become Sub-Principal Oboe with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO), with whom he performed for 23 years. 

John Anderson recalls: ‘Tim was my valued colleague in the RPO for 15 years. He was a fine player and a versatile one, being equally accomplished playing second or first oboe, cor anglais or oboe d’ amore. He became a great friend and touring companion with a talent for seeking out good restaurants and relishing post-concert camaraderie. He loved being part of a symphony orchestra and the thrill of concert-giving. Tim was a calm and level-headed person. He was also a respected union rep and board member of the RPO. He is greatly missed.’ 

RCM oboe professor John Roberts, who shared the RPO desk with Tim, adds: ‘Ours was a truly wonderful musical partnership which I will always treasure. Tim was a great friend to many of us. As a former barkeeper in his father’ s pub, a former gillie on a Highland estate, and a Cambridge history graduate, Tim was an endlessly engaging conversationalist and raconteur. He was deeply tolerant and easy-going, and understood people remarkably well. Over his lifetime Tim left his impressive mark on practically every ensemble in the UK.’

Tim is survived by Adrienne and their son Peter and daughter Naomi.