20/06/2017 - Photos have recently emerged of several players from the 1990 EUYO orchestra and the late conductor Jeffrey Tate. The photographs were taken during the summer of 1990 when Tate conducted the EUYO’s summer tour to Bolzano, Budapest, Warsaw, Prague, Leipzig and East Berlin; a tour fondly remembered by many of EUYO’s alumni.
The English conductor held conducting appointments with the English Chamber Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and Hamburg Symphony Orchestra among others, and was the first person to be appointed principal conductor of the Royal Opera House. He was appointed CBE in 1990 and was also knighted this year.
Tate suffered with spina bifida throughout his life, but in spite of this he lived two decades beyond his life expectancy, often stating that the physical benefits of conducting is what kept him fit: “I frequently find after a rehearsal or a performance that I have more breath, and can walk better and climb stairs better than I could before. It’s as if I’ve expanded my lungs doing it. Basically speaking, conducting is quite a healthy profession.”
Tate sadly died earlier this month, aged 74.
Many thanks to alumnus Tom Devaere for supplying these photos.
