Friends are reporting the death today of Rohan de Saram, cellist of the trailblazing Arditti Quartet for quarter of a century, from 1979 to 2005. Rohan was 85.
Born in Sheffield to Sri Lankan parents, he studied with Casals and impressed Dmitri Mitropoulos, whio gave him a concerto debut with the New York Philharmonic. Living in London from 1972, he joined the foremost contemporary ensemble, the Arditti Quartet and premiered with them works by Berio, Britten, Bussotti, Cage, Maxwell Davies, Hosokawa, Kagel, Ligeti, Nancarrow, Rihm, Schnittke, Xenakis and more.
His striking good looks often magnetised the eye when the music was a tad… experimental.
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