Felix Kok, the violinist who led the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 1965 and through the Simon Rattle years, retiring in 1988, died in London on 11 August.

An article in The Strad from August 1960 said of Kok:
'The leader of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra since the beginning of June this year is that gifted young South African, Felix Kok. Briefly, of Dutch-Huguenot extraction he came to England in 1938, won a scholarship to the RAM where he studied with Rowsby Woof and carried off the current prizes. From 1939-1945 he played second fiddle in the Blech Quartet and was associated successively with the Boyd Neel and Philharmonia Orchestras. As a comparative newcomer, it is difficult to assess his standing with the orchestra but he is undoubtedly the kind of leader that musicians and public welcome. Relaxed, frank, likably modest and good-looking, with the discreet confidence of a man on top of his job, he discharges his office with ease and authority.'

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