Alexander Kok

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For the South African cricketer, see Alexander Kok (cricketer).

Alexander "Bobby" Kok (14 February 1926 – 1 May 2015) was a South African-born British professional cellist.

Early life

Monument to 1922 miners' strike in Brakpan

Alexander Kok was born on Valentine's Day, 1926, in the mining town of

Second World War; while his wife and four sons emigrated to England in 1938.[1][2][3][4][5]

Musical career

After the family emigrated to England in 1938, Kok attended

Sir Thomas Beecham, Richard Strauss, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Arturo Toscanini, Herbert von Karajan and Otto Klemperer. Kok continued to study cello under Pierre Fournier in Paris and Pablo Casals in Prades, France. Between 1960 and 1965, he was appointed as principal cellist of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. As well as orchestral performances, Kok also played chamber music in the Beaufort Trio, with Felix and the pianist Daphne Ibbott – broadcast live on the BBC Third Programme; and, when starting to teach music history at Dartington Hall in Devon in 1957, one year later he founded the Dartington String Quartet, with Colin Sauer, Peter Carter (violins) and Keith Lovell (viola). Kok was also a member of the London Octet and the London Ensemble. His debut as a solo performer was in 1960 at the Wigmore Hall, with one reviewer writing that his "tone was of a very appealing, mellow quality, and his musicianship was sensitively sympathetic and sincere”.[7][1][2][3][4][5]

Moving later into commercial music, Kok became successful financially as a session musician in Britain, supplying backing music for well-known pop groups, as well as in the film, television and advertising world. His film credits include

Brideshead Revisited and numerous other programmes. As a backing musician, he recorded with many pop music stars, including Tony Bennett, Eric Clapton, Elton John and notably The Beatles – he was a particular favourite of their producer George Martin. He played cello on some of The Beatles' biggest hits, including "Hey Jude"; later he featured as cello solo in the 1987 George Harrison album Cloud Nine.[8][9][10][11]

After setting up a music school in Cheltenham, he eventually settled to retire in Normandy: but not without mishap – two of his valuable cellos were accidentally destroyed in a fire in Gloucestershire. He married three times (in 1954, 1964 and 1981), each time ending in divorce. During his latter years in Normandy, Kok was cared for by his friend Margaret Cook. After her death in 2013, he returned to England. He died in 2015 at the age of 89 at Brinsworth House, Twickenham; the funeral took place at Mortlake Crematorium, Kew.[10][4][5]

Selected writings

  • Kok, Alexander (2003). A Voice in the Dark: The Philharmonia Years. Emerson Edition.
    ISBN 0950620963
    .
  • Kok, Alexander (2008). Not Particularly Attractive People?. comfybadger.
    ISBN 978-0956853301
    .

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Gibbons, Nigel (May 2005). "D'Alamero [Darrell] Kok obituary". Royal College of Physicians. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Felix Kok obituary". The Guardian. 26 September 2010. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Felix Kok obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 15 August 2010. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  4. ^ a b c "Alexander Kok, cellist – obituary", The Telegraph, 7 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  5. ^ a b c "Obituary: Philharmonia Orchestra founding cellist Alexander Kok – The musician was also principal cellist of the BBC Symphony Orchestra". The Strad. 12 May 2015. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  6. University of Witwatersrand, continued his clinical training at St Bartholomew's Hospital, already qualifying as a doctor in 1942. For his national service in 1946–1948, he was attached to the Royal Army Medical Corps, where his duties included conducting autopsies for evidence during the Nuremberg trials.[1]
  7. ^ "Alexander Kok obituary". The Old Haberdashers' Association. April 2019. pp. 210–212. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
  8. ^ Bramich, Keith (ed.). "Alexander Kok". Classical Musical Daily. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
  9. ISBN 0517570661
  10. ^ a b "A Service to Celebrate the Life of Alexander "Bobby" Kok". geoffrewburgon.com. Mortlake Crematorium. 16 May 2015. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
  11. ^ "Cloud Nine". musicalphabet.com. Friar Park Studios, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. 1987. Retrieved 1 January 2022.

External links

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