In Memoriam — Remembering the Remarkable Musicians We Lost in 2020 [RIP]

As the year draws to a close, we’d like to take the time to remember the remarkable artists we lost in 2020

Violinist Ivry Gitlis passed away aged 98.

Luminary Polish-born Jewish violinist and teacher Ida Haendel passed away aged 91.

American cellist Lynn Harrell passed away aged 76.

Famed American classical pianist Peter Serkin passed away from pancreatic cancer aged 72.

Polish composer and conductor Krzysztof Penderecki passed away aged 86.

Luminary American pianist and pedagogue Leon Fleisher passed away from cancer aged 92.

Violinist and teacher Victor Danchenko passed away aged 83.

Oscar Award-winning Italian film composer and conductor Ennio Morricone passed way in Rome aged 91.

American pianist and long serving Curtis Institute of Music pedagogue Eleanor Sokoloff  passed away aged 106.

Violinist and teacher Camilla Wicks passed away aged 92.

Austrian-born British violinist Erich Gruenberg passed away aged 95.

Former London Symphony Principal Double Bassist Rinat Ibragimov passed away from COVID-19.

American cellist Michael Grebanier passed away aged 82.

Russian-born cellist Alexander Buzlov passed away from a stroke aged just 37.

British cellist Martin Lovett passed away aged 93.

British violinist Barry Griffiths passed away aged 81.

Canadian-born American cellist Lorne Munroe passed away aged 95.

American double bassist Dwight Shambley passed away aged 70.

Dutch violinist and conductor Jaap Schröder passed away aged 94.

Polish conductor and composer Jan Krenz passed away aged 94.

Two time Grammy–nominated composer William Pursell passed away aged 94.

Czech viola da gamba virtuoso and conductor Petr Wagner passed away aged 50.

German composer and violist Volker David Kirchner passed away aged 77.

Canadian composer and educator John Burke passed away aged 68.

German conductor Othmar Mága passed away aged 90.

Russian composer Sergei Slonimsky passed away aged 88.

Croatian conductor Vladimir Kranjcevic passed away aged 83.

French violist Christophe Desjardins passed away from cancer aged just 57.

Dutch violinist Jaring Walta passed away aged 78.

Australian-born violinist Cathleen O’Carroll Dalschaert passed away at age 90 from a brain hemorrhage.

Irish-born conductor Brendan Townsend passed away aged 52.

American violinist and pedagogue Alice Joy Lewis passed away aged 77.

Hungarian Cellist Tamás Mérei passed away aged 47.

Ottawa-based violinist Yehonatan Berick passed away from cancer aged 52.

Russian violinist Irina Bochkova passed away aged 81.

American opera conductor and composer Anton Coppola passed away aged 102.

German violinist Hellmut Stern passed away aged 91.

Acclaimed American modernist composer Charles Wuorinen passed away aged 81.

French double-bassist and composer Gildas Delaporte passed away following a lengthy battle with cancer aged 54.

British cellist Martin Loveday passed away due to complications from COVID-19 and his cancer treatment aged 62.

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra violist Vincent Lionti passed away due to complications of Coronavirus aged just 60.

Russian conductor, Alexander Vedernikov passed away from COVID-19 aged 56.

Russian-born composer Dmitri Smirnov passed away from COVID-19 aged 71.

Violinist Mary Louise Nanna passed away aged 83.

British cellist and pedagogue Eileen Croxford Parkhouse passed away aged 96.

Slovenian-born conductor Maksimilijan Cenčić passed away following a prolonged illness aged 68.

American conductor and vocalist Stanley Curtis passed away aged 86.

British-born choral conductor and educator John Poole passed away aged 85.

American Baroque-specialist violinist and violist Judson Griffin passed away aged 68.

American cellist André Emelianoff passed away from a degenerative condition aged 78.

Uruguayan conductor and composer Federico Garcia Vigil passed away aged 79.

African-American cellist Mouhamed Cisse was shot and killed in Philadelphia amid #BlackLivesMatter race protests at age 18.

Canadian conductor Victor Feldbrill passed away aged 96.

American conductor and violist Christopher Quentin McMullen-Laird passed away aged 36.

Congolese-Belgian violinist and conductor Georges Octors passed away aged 97.

American violinist Kenneth Goldsmith passed away.

British violist Gustav Clarkson passed away.

Romanian conductor Camil Marinescu passed away from the COVID-19 virus aged 55.

Azerbaijani singer Eldar Aliev passed away aged 49.

Peruvian Violinist Norman Bernal passed away from COVID-19 aged 75.