Lynn Harrell (*1944) passed away yesterday at the age of 76. Harrell’s half-century career has brought him to many leading orchestras. He was a renowned artist for a broad repertoire and also for contemporary music.
In his career April 7, 1994, was a special day when he appeared at the Vatican with the Royal Philharmonic in a concert dedicated to the memory of the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. As the Vatican’s first official commemoration of the Holocaust, this historic event was attended by both Pope John Paul II and the Chief Rabbi of Rome.
A majorly accomplished recording artist, Lynn Harrell’s extensive discography of more than 30 recordings include the complete Bach Cello Suites (London/Decca), the world-premiere recording of Victor Herbert’s Cello Concerto No. 1 with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields led by Sir Neville Marriner (London/Decca), the Walton Concerto with Sir Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (EMI), and the Donald Erb Concerto with Slatkin and the Saint Louis Symphony (New World). More recently, Mr. Harrell recorded Tchaikovsky’s Variations for Cello and Orchestra on a Rococo Theme, Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 2, and Prokofiev’s Sinfonia Concertante with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Gerard Schwarz conducting (Classico).
In June 2010, along with his wife violinist Helen Nightengale, Lynn founded the HEARTbeats Foundation, a 501(c) charity. Based in Los Angeles, the Foundation strives to help children in need harness the power of music to better cope with, and recover from, the extreme challenges of poverty and conflict.
Harrell was born to musician parents in New York City: his father was the baritone Mack Harrell and his mother, Marjorie McAlister Fulton (1909–1962), was a violinist. At the age of eight, he decided to learn to play the cello. Harrell studied at the Juilliard School in New York with Leonard Rose and then at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia with Orlando Cole. He made his debut in 1961 playing with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.
Harrell was a cellist with the Cleveland Orchestra and its principal cellist from 1964 to 1971.
Harrell made his recital debut in New York in 1971, and since then has performed internationally as a recitalist, chamber musician, and soloist with orchestras.
