Leo Quayle
Leo Quayle (11 December 1918 - 19 May 2005) was a South African conductor described as the "South African maestro of music theatre."[1]
Early life
Quayle was born in Pretoria where he trained with his father, Leo Quayle snr., and Isadore Epstein.[2] He conducted an orchestra for the first time at the age of fourteen, and conducted the Pretoria Juvenile Orchestra in 1934.[1] He won the University of South Africa Scholarship for Piano in 1936. He took up this scholarship at the Royal College of Music in 1937, and returned after the end of the Second World War.[3] He studied under Constant Lambert at the Royal College of Music where he won the Stier Prize for conducting in 1939, and the Hopkinson Gold Medal in 1946. He spent the Second World War in South Africa as an organiser/director of the Union Defence Force Entertainment Unit.[4]
Career
During the 1940s and 1950s he was firstly the assistant and later the principal conductor at the Sadler's Wells Opera Company in London as well as one of the first music directors for the
Personal life
Quayle met his Durban-born wife Joan in the Entertainment Unit during the Second World War. Joan, a singer under the name Joan Ayling, died in Durban in 1993. They had two sons: Bruce Anthony and Leo.[6] He died of pneumonia in Durban on 19 May 2005.[7]
References
- ^ a b c d Hinch, John deCourteille (1 Nov 2004). "Leo Quayle (1918 - ) - South African maestro of music theatre". South African Journal of Cultural History. 18 (2). Retrieved 12 January 2023.
- ^ ISBN 0798110899.
- ^ a b c "Leo Quayle". Opera Scotland. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
- ^ "Union Defence Force Entertainment Unit". Encyclopaedia of South African Theatre, Film, Media and Performance. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
- ^ Alkema, Sjoerd. "Conductors of the Cape Town Municipal Orchestra, 1914-1965: a historical perspective" (PDF). University of Cape Town. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
- ^ Smart, Caroline (9 June 2005). "Tribute to Leo Quayle". artSMart. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
- ^ "Leo Quayle". Encyclopaedia of South African Theatre, Film, Media and Performance. Retrieved 12 January 2023.