John Fletcher (1941 – October 1987) was an English French Horn and

tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...

player. He was born and educated in Leeds, and was a pupil at Leeds Modern School, a grammar school, where his father was the music teacher. Along with composer

Derek Bourgeois Derek David Bourgeois (16 October 1941 – 6 September 2017) was an English composer. Career Derek Bourgeois was born in Kingston upon Thames in 1941. After receiving his university education at Magdalene College, Cambridge (honours degree ...

he played

in 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 ...

. Both arrived at Cambridge where there was only one tuba position. Fletcher switched to horn, even performing Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings. He returned to the

upon his graduation from studying Natural Sciences at

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College (officially "The Master, Fellows and Scholars of the College or Hall of Valence-Mary") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 ...

. In autumn 1964, he moved to London, where he was appointed Principal Tuba of 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 ...

. He left the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1966 to join 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 ...

(LSO). In 1966, he also joined the

Philip Jones Brass Ensemble The Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, founded in 1951 by trumpeter Philip Jones, was one of the first modern classical brass ensembles to be formed. The group played either as a quintet or as a ten-piece, for larger halls. It toured and recorded exte ...

(PJBE), with whom he played until 1986. Known to his friends as "Fletch", he was highly regarded as a tuba player and teacher. He taught many UK professional tubists, including

Patrick Harrild Patrick may refer to: *Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name *Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People *Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick or ...

, who succeeded Fletcher as the LSO's principal tuba. Fletcher also regularly tutored members of the National Youth Orchestra. Fletcher's recordings included the Vaughan Williams Tuba Concerto.

Leonard Salzedo Leonard Salzedo (24 September 1921 – 6 May 2000) was an English composer and conductor of Spanish descent. Salzedo was born in London. After some early lessons from William Lloyd Webber he went on to study composition under Herbert How ...

dedicated his Sonata for tuba and piano, op. 93, to Fletcher.Byrne, Frank, Review of published score of Sonata for Tuba and Piano, Op. 93 by Leonard Salzedo (December 1986). ''Notes'' (2nd Ser.), 43 (2): pp. 421-422. In 1967, Fletcher married the mezzo-soprano Margaret Cable, and together they had a daughter and a son. In March 1987, he suffered a massive cerebral haemorrhage, and died that October. The John Fletcher Trust Fund was established after his death, in his memory, to provide bursaries for young brass players to attend the courses run by the

National Youth Orchestra A youth orchestra is an orchestra made of young musicians, typically ranging from pre-teens or teenagers to those of conservatory age. Depending on the age range and selectiveness, they may serve different purposes. Orchestras for young studen ...

, National Youth Brass band and other training centres. Fletcher is discussed in the book 'To Speak for Ourselves' (ed. Alan Smythe), a collection of interviews with leading members of the London Symphony Orchestra.

References

External links

ITEA website
International Tuba-Euphonium Association, Committees and Lifetime Achievement members

Information on the trust British classical tubists Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge London Symphony Orchestra players 1987 deaths 1941 births 20th-century classical musicians 20th-century English musicians {{England-musician-stub