JAVS Spring 2022

News &Notes

In Memoriam In Fond Memory of Ron Ephrat, Tony Byrne, and Mira Menza

Ron Ephrat 1

Tony Byrne 2

Viola player Ron Ephrat passed away

Irish viola player Tony Byrne died on December 2, 2021, following a long illness. He was a long-standing

on September 15, 2021. He was the former principal viola of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra from 1983 to 2011.

member of the London Philharmonic Orchestra viola section from 1974 until his retirement in 2010, during which he served for many years as co-principal. Byrne was born and raised in Dublin, where he studied the violin, but switched to the viola in order to make up a chamber group. Falling in love with the instrument immediately, he was offered a scholarship at the College of Music in Dublin. He joined the Symphony Orchestra of the Irish Radio following his studies and was also a founding member of the Irish Chamber Orchestra. He left Dublin in 1965 to join the BBC Orchestra in Bristol and spent seven years with the Bournemouth Sinfonietta as principal viola. Photo: London Philharmonic Orchestra

Photo courtesy of SlippedDisc

The Israeli Ron Ephrat came to Europe in the 1970s and after playing with various orchestras, he ended up with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. There, he led the viola group for almost 30 years. The public got to know him as a colorful and passionate musician. In addition to his work with the orchestra, Ephrat also taught at the conservatories of Rotterdam and The Hague. He was also a popular guest at international festivals and played in various chamber music ensembles. Two weeks before his death, chief conductor Lahav Shani paid a visit to Ron Ephrat. There, Ephrat said that he kept thinking about the music of Johannes Brahms—especially his 2nd symphony, which was his favorite piece. Two days later, Ron Ephrat was driven to de Doelen, where the orchestra played Brahms's Second Symphony one last time for him. “A man with character,” says Anne Huser, who shared the lectern with him for many years as co-captain: Ron had a very strong opinion of his own—which could clash with some colleagues or conductors— but he had a heart of gold. And his stubbornness was always substantiated because he was a walking encyclopedia. Yet he always played from his gut feeling. You couldn't restrain him; he always gave it one hundred percent in everything he did. He also thought he would live to be 100—he had imagined it all very differently. Oh, I will miss him. But his notes are still in the parties, I see again and again what he wrote down in clues and fingerings. Those are things that last.

LPO Leader Pieter Schoeman added: Tony was a gentleman. He was also one of the

kindest people I’ve ever known. During those early years when I started playing with the LPO, he very quickly became one of my best friends. Some of my favorite moments were the meals we had after concerts on tour, because Tony had the ability to always lift my spirits with his humor.

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 38, No. 1, Spring 2022

7