Andrew Hugh Michael Maguire (2 August 1926 – 14 June 2013) was an Irish

violinist The following lists of violinists are available: * List of classical violinists, notable violinists from the baroque era onwards * List of contemporary classical violinists, notable contemporary classical violinists * List of violinist/composers, ...

, leader, concertmaster and principal player of the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

and the

BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...

(1962–1967), leader of the

Melos Ensemble The Melos Ensemble is a group of musicians who started in 1950 in London to play chamber music in mixed instrumentation of string instruments, wind instruments and others. Benjamin Britten composed the chamber music for his ''War Requiem'' for the ...

and the

Allegri Quartet The Allegri Quartet is a string quartet that was founded in 1953 by Eli Goren and William Pleeth. It is Britain's longest-running chamber music ensemble, sustained over six decades by successive generations of performers. A commitment to refresh ...

, a professor at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

, and violin tutor to the

National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain The National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (NYO-GB) is the national youth orchestra of the United Kingdom, consisting of 164 members of ages 13 to 19 years. Their mission is to "give thrilling experiences of orchestral music to teenage musicia ...

Career

Maguire was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

as one of six siblings, all of whom became professional musicians. His father Elias, a headmaster and tenor, introduced him to violin lessons at age 6. By age 12, he had won every prize for violin-playing at the principal music festivals in Ireland. Educated at the

Belvedere College Belvedere College S.J. (sometimes St Francis Xavier's College) is a voluntary secondary school for boys in Dublin, Ireland. The school has numerous alumni in the arts, politics, sports, science, and business. History Belvedere owes its origin ...

, in 1944 he gained a four-year scholarship to the

in London, where he won the Alfred Waley and Alfred Gibson Prizes for violin playing, and the Cooper Prize and McEwan Prize for quartet playing. There he led the first orchestra for two years under

Clarence Raybould Robert Clarence Raybould (28 June 1886 – 27 March 1972) was an English conductor, pianist and composer who conducted works ranging from musical comedy and operetta, Gilbert and Sullivan to the standard classical repertoire. He also cham ...

and played concertos at several 'end of term' concerts. In January 1949, Maguire was in the first violin section of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1950, he spent ten months in Paris having lessons from

George Enescu George Enescu (; – 4 May 1955), known in France as Georges Enesco, was a Romanian composer, violinist, conductor and teacher. Regarded as one of the greatest musicians in Romanian history, Enescu is featured on the Romanian five lei. Biog ...

(to whom he acknowledged his greatest debt), and appeared as soloist, including a concerto under

Roger Désormière Roger Désormière () (13 September 1898 – 25 October 1963) was a French conductor. He was an enthusiastic champion of contemporary composers, but also conducted performances of early eighteenth century French music. Life and career Désormièr ...

.''Concert Programme'', LSO 18 March 1960 (cited above). In 1952 he was appointed leader of the

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an English orchestra, founded in 1893 and originally based in Bournemouth. With a remit to serve the South and South West of England, the BSO is administratively based in the adjacent town of Poole, s ...

, after which he had a short period as sub-leader of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. In 1956, Maguire became leader of the

until 1961, as one of the 'Young Turks' who helped to reshape the orchestra after a confrontation between management and players which had prompted many resignations. In 1959 he became a Fellow of the

. In 1962, he left the LSO to become leader of the

, and held the post until 1967. From 1983 to 1991, he was leader of the Orchestra of the

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Ope ...

. Maguire helped to found the

Academy of St Martin in the Fields The Academy of St Martin in the Fields (ASMF) is an English chamber orchestra, based in London. John Churchill, then Master of Music at the London church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, and Neville Marriner founded the orchestra as "The Academy of ...

with

Neville Marriner Sir Neville Marriner, (15 April 1924 – 2 October 2016) was an English violinist and "one of the world's greatest conductors". Gramophone lists Marriner as one of the 50 greatest conductors and another compilation ranks Marriner #14 of th ...

in 1959, and became closely associated with its work at the solo violin desk. His pre-eminence as a teacher and pedagogue for soloists and chamber music ensemble groups was also then developing. During the 1960s, he,

Jacqueline du Pré Jacqueline Mary du Pré (26 January 1945 – 19 October 1987) was a British cellist. At a young age, she achieved enduring mainstream popularity. Despite her short career, she is regarded as one of the greatest cellists of all time. Her care ...

and

Fou Ts'ong Fou Ts'ong (; 10 March 1934 – 28 December 2020) was a Chinese-born British pianist who was the first pianist of his national origin to achieve international recognition. He came to prominence after winning third prize and the Polish Radio Prize ...

performed as a piano trio. Maguire led the Cremona Quartet with

Iona Brown Iona Brown, OBE, (7 January 19415 June 2004) was a British violinist and conductor. Early life and education Elizabeth Iona Brown was born in Salisbury and was educated at Cranborne Chase School, Dorset. Her parents, Antony and Fiona, were b ...

Cecil Aronowitz Cecil Aronowitz (4 March 19167 September 1978) was a British viola player, a founding member of the Melos Ensemble, a leading chamber musician and an influential teacher at the Royal College of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music. C ...

and

Terence Weil Terence Weil (9 December 1921 in London – 25 February 1995 in Figueras) was a British cellist, principal cellist of the English Chamber Orchestra, a founding member of the Melos Ensemble, a leading chamber musician and an influential teacher ...

, From 1974, he led the

, heading that group's renewal after it had been temporarily disbanded following the death of

Ivor McMahon Ivor McMahon (1924–1972) was an English violinist. He played with notable orchestras including the Philharmonia Orchestra and the English Chamber Orchestra and is best known for playing second violin in the Melos Ensemble. Career In ...

. In 1978,

Peter Pears Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears ( ; 22 June 19103 April 1986) was an English tenor. His career was closely associated with the composer Benjamin Britten, his personal and professional partner for nearly forty years. Pears' musical career started ...

invited Maguire to join the

Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies The Britten–Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies was founded in 1977 in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, following the success both of the master classes held for singers by Peter Pears from 1972, and of the subsequent courses for string players. The S ...

as director of string studies. He served in the post until 2002. Maguire became leader of the

in the 1970s, with David Roth, Patrick Ireland and Bruno Schrecker. The quartet's recordings included the String Quartet No. 2 of

Alexander Goehr Peter Alexander Goehr (; born 10 August 1932) is an English composer and academic. Goehr was born in Berlin in 1932, the son of the conductor and composer Walter Goehr, a pupil of Arnold Schoenberg. In his early twenties he emerged as a centra ...

and the Quartets Nos 3 & 4 of

Frank Bridge Frank Bridge (26 February 187910 January 1941) was an English composer, violist and conductor. Life Bridge was born in Brighton, the ninth child of William Henry Bridge (1845-1928), a violin teacher and variety theatre conductor, formerly a m ...

. Sir

Malcolm Arnold Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold (21 October 1921 – 23 September 2006) was an English composer. His works feature music in many genres, including a cycle of nine symphonies, numerous concertos, concert works, chamber music, choral music and music ...

dedicated his string quartet no. 2 (1975) to him, first performed by the Allegri Quartet in Dublin Castle in June 1976, with the British premiere three days later at

Snape Maltings Snape Maltings is an arts complex on the banks of the River Alde at Snape, Suffolk, England. It is best known for its concert hall, which is one of the main sites of the annual Aldeburgh Festival. The original purpose of the Maltings was the ma ...

, as part of the

Aldeburgh Festival The Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the Aldeburgh area of Suffolk, centred on Snape Maltings Concert Hall. History of the Aldeburgh Festival Th ...

. He left the Allegri Quartet in 1976. Maguire was professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London for 26 years, and was also artistic director of the Irish Youth Orchestra, as well as violin tutor to the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. He taught master classes at Aldeburgh Music and was on the coaching staff of the ensemble training at the

Leiston Abbey Leiston Abbey outside the town of Leiston, Suffolk, England, was a religious house of Canons Regular following the Premonstratensian rule (White canons), dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus, St Mary. Founded in c. 1183 by Ranulf de Glanville (c. 11 ...

music school.Pro Corda
staff 2010 Maguire was married twice. His first marriage, in 1953 to the dancer Suzie Lewis, produced five children, three daughters and two sons. The couple divorced in 1987. His second marriage was to Tricia Catchpole, from 1988 until her death in February 2013.

References

External links

Entries for recordings by Hugh Maguire
on

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maguire, Hugh 1926 births 2013 deaths British classical violinists British male violinists Irish male violinists Academics of the Royal Academy of Music Fellows of the Royal Academy of Music Irish classical violinists Musicians from Dublin (city) Concertmasters 20th-century classical violinists 20th-century British male musicians People educated at Belvedere College Male classical violinists