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This is taken from The Times, October 5, 2005:
Cellist who instituted the Radio 3 lunchtime concerts
ELEANOR WARREN was a distinguished cellist and music producer who rose to be the BBC’s Head of Music Programmes, Radio, in 1975.
She brought to the position a deep knowledge of music and of the musicians of the day and a flair for programme-making. She was quick to spot fresh talent and had a particular enthusiasm for championing young artists; she initiated a Young Artists series and started the live Monday lunchtime concerts at St John’s, Smith Square, in Westminster.
In 1977 she moved to be head of strings of the new Northern College of Music, and there she helped to nurture the professionalism of its recitals and masterclasses.
She was a well-known figure among musicians, and much loved for her warmth, dedication and wit; the violinist Gyorgy Pauk, who was introduced by Warren to the cellist Ralph Kirschbaum (promptly inviting him to join his trio) and became a close friend, called her “a darling — and very beautiful — even at 86”.
Eleanor Warren was born in London in 1919. She joined the London Cello School at the age of 5, playing on an eighth-size cello which she would later hang on her wall. She made rapid progress. After Gregor Piatigorsky heard her play in 1933 he gave her lessons whenever he was in London (after the war she also studied with Pierre Fournier and Pablo Casals). She won the cello school’s premier prize in 1934.
The following year, when she was 16, the agent Harold Holt arranged a debut concert for her at the Wigmore Hall. It was a success, and more concerts followed; after one evening of Handel, Boccherini and Rachmaninov (for which she was accompanied by Ernest Lush), The Times reported: “Her technical accomplishment seemed complete, and everything was phrased with a suave beauty of tone, a truth of intonation, and an ease of manner surprising in a young player at the beginning of her career.”
She became the principal cellist of a number of London orchestras and also accepted freelance orchestral engagements. Soon she was invited to give concerts elsewhere in Europe and in Canada. She also played in ensembles, among them the Ebsworth Quartet (with Eileen Ebsworth, Phyllis Ebsworth and Jean Layton) — “excellent artists,” one critic said, “who, if not famous individually, have studied to perfect their ensemble and bring corporate intelligence to bear on their music.”
In 1942 Warren met the conductor Walter Susskind, at that time pianist of the Czech Trio. They married in 1943 and had a son, Peter, the following year. When Susskind became chief conductor of the Scottish Orchestra (later the Royal Scottish National Orchestra), Warren moved between Glasgow and London. She continued to play (during the war she gave recitals in factories, to the Navy in Scapa Flow and in the National Gallery). She also became interested in programme-making, and for six years she helped to organise the programmes for the Scottish Orchestra.
In 1952 Susskind went to conduct the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. When he returned the following year, their marriage was dissolved.
After playing for a time with the English Chamber Orchestra and the London Mozart Players, and doing some film session work and broadcasts, Warren decided that she wanted a more settled life. She started planning and producing programmes, first for orchestral tours, then for the new BBC music channel in 1964. Among her first tasks were compiling full days of music for the Home Service, producing a Music Making series and arranging recordings for This Week’s Composer, many of which were broadcast live.
She also found the time to organise chamber concerts at the Queen Elizabeth Hall after it opened in 1967, to coach the cello section of the Essex Youth Orchestra and to give masterclasses at Dartington.
In 1969 the restoration of St John’s, Smith Square, which had been damaged in the war, was completed. Warren saw its potential as a venue for lunchtime concerts — the government buildings would provide good audiences — and her Monday concerts, broadcast live, became famous.
In 1971 Warren became Radio 3’s chief producer, and started her Young Artists series, sent out live from Broadcasting House. She moved to the Northern College of Music in 1977, glad of a fresh opportunity to encourage young, talented people. She was one of the judges of the young musician of the year competition when it began there in 1978. She also accepted posts at the Guildhall School of Music and the Royal College of Music. She retired n 1988 but continued to serve the Musicians Benevolent Fund and was called upon frequently to teach and adjudicate.
She is survived by her son.
Eleanor Warren, cellist and radio producer, was born on June 5, 1919. She died on August 25, 2005, aged 86.
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