Obituaries

Bob Briggs (d. 2011)

Oare String Orchestra deeply regrets the passing of Bob Briggs, music critic and keen supporter of English music and orchestras, particularly of London and the South East. A big man of generous spirit, Bob was always quick to recognise the best qualities in new music and in those who played it. In recent years he was to be seen at OSO concerts. His knowledge of music, particularly of the 20th century, verged on the encyclopaedic, but it was always the music and its performers that he brought to the fore on his pages, and never himself as the musicologist. He therefore won many friends and admirers, some of whom had travelled considerable distances to present their tributes, both in words and music, at the service of celebration of his life held at St.John’s Church, Buckhurst Hill, in Essex on Tuesday 20th December. DG

Coen van der Heide (d. 2011)

His life as a professional viola player stretched widely across the Netherlands and much of northern Europe, but it was as founder-conductor of the Tollens Ensemble from Holland that he became known to Oare String Orchestra. Early correspondence between OSO and this Dutch string group came to fruition with the ‘exchange’ of February 1986 in which Tollens and OSO combined to perform at Canterbury Cathedral, with Tollens playing the next day at Faversham’s parish church. In April OSO crossed to Holland to join with Tollens in Rijswijk, near The Hague, after which OSO played near Rotterdam, introducing some new English music to Dutch listeners. The musical and personal links forged in 1986 remained firm, with Coen appearing as soloist at the 1987 OSO concert with the Endellion String Quartet in Cranbrook. The combined excursion to Denmark in 1994 under Coen’s baton saw the two orchestras undertaking a multi-concert tour of Jutland. In 2003 Coen and his Tollens players paid special tribure to OSO by travelling to Kent to celebrate OSO’s 21st birthday and the long and happy association between the two orchestras. As a talented instrumentalist and personable conductor, Coen van der Heide will be missed by the many musicians who have played with or under him, and the audiences that have enjoyed his vibrant interpretations. DG