Double bassist and composer Gareth Wood has died

Read more news stories here

Welsh double bassist and composer Gareth Wood has died, aged 73. He was a member and chairman of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) and prolific composer for brass bands.

Wood was born in Cilfynydd, Wales in 1950. He studied composition and the double bass at the Royal Academy of Music, joining the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1972. He toured extensively with the orchestra, appearing at all the world’s major music festivals and played for conductors such as Leopold Stokowski, Rudolf Kempe, Karl Böhm, Bernard Haitink and Georg Solti. He became chairman of the RPO in 1991, a post he held for three years.

As a composer, he first came to the attention of the public in 1975 when his overture Tombstone, Arizona was performed at the Royal Albert Hall during the National Brass Band Festival. His portfolio included numerous works for brass bands and instruments, including the 1992 European Championship set-work, Five Blooms in a Welsh Garden. Wood also composed concertos, a sonata and chamber music for the double bass.

As an educator, Wood taught at the National Centre for Young Bass Players, and composed Light, a dectet for the Centre basses, in 2011.

His works also featured at many important cultural events, including fanfares to open the National Assembly of Wales (Senedd) in Cardiff as well as the Kravis Centre in West Palm Beach in Florida.

Watch a performance of Wood’s Bass Quartet, featuring Rodrigo Moro Martín, Jon Mikel Martinez Valgañón, Philip Nelson and Frances Emery:

Playing

In The Best of Technique you’ll discover the top playing tips of the world’s leading string players and teachers. It’s packed full of exercises for students, plus examples from the standard repertoire to show you how to integrate the technique into your playing.

Teaching

The Strad’s Masterclass series brings together the finest string players with some of the greatest string works ever written. Always one of our most popular sections, Masterclass has been an invaluable aid to aspiring soloists, chamber musicians and string teachers since the 1990s.

Calendars

This year’s calendar celebrates the top instruments played by members of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony, Australian String Quartet and some of the country’s greatest soloists.