British conductor and violinist John Georgiadis died on January 5th. He was a concertmaster of the London Symphony Orchestra for 14 years from the age of 26, after which he became a conductor. He has presided over the “New Year’s Concert” in London since 1977, and was known for recording music from the Strauss family such as Waltz.
Born in Essex, he started playing the violin at the age of six. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Music in London, he joined the London Symphony Orchestra in 1965 after serving as a concertmaster for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra for two years.
He supported the days when André Previn was the principal conductor. Two years ago, he published a memoir looking back on his orchestral life.
From the latter half of the 1970s, he became a conductor after studying under the famous conductor Sergiu Celibidache and others. In 1972 he founded the London Virtuoso Chamber Orchestra.
He is an honorary member of the Johann Strauss II in the United Kingdom, and the “New Year’s Concert” continued until 2015, inviting various orchestras in London. He also teaches his successor in the orchestra department at the Royal Academy of Music at his alma mater.
He was the music director of the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra in Thailand from 1994 to 1996, and was often a guest performer in the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. He had surgery for a brain tumor last July and was undergoing medical treatment.
Photo：johngeorgiadis.com / Chris Tyler
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