Peter Bassano

He was elected for two terms to the Philharmonia's Council of Management and was a member of the Orchestra's Artistic Planning Committee of four, the others being Amelia Freedman, Robert Ponsonby and John Wallace.

His career as a free-lance trombone player took him to all of the London orchestras, playing in many West-end musicals, including Golden Boy, Man of la Mancha, Threepenny Opera, The Great Waltz, the National Theatre (Much Ado about Nothing, H, Three Sisters), a run of Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale at the Young Vic, the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, films – Brother Sun and Sister Moon, Meaning of Life, Oliver, Ryan's Daughter, Ivanhoe, Superman 2, The Devils, The Lion in Winter, Watership Down and Women in Love – and television – All Creatures Great and Small, Black Beauty, Elizabeth R, I, Claudius, The Gay Lord Quex, The Pallisers – and touring and recording with the Bee Gees, Pink Floyd and the Beatles on the chart topping Hey Jude.

He had written numerous articles for the British musical and national press – including The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent and The Times – and presented research on the Bassano Family,[7] Beethoven,[8] Byrd,[9] Shakespeare[10] and Veronese.

He was assistant conductor to Paul McCreesh and his Gabrieli Consort and Players[12] on the award-winning Venetian Coronation and Music at San Rocco and Sir John Eliot Gardiner for his Berlioz Romeo and Juliet recording projects.

In January 1995 he was one of the first conductors to appear at the newly built Paris concert hall, Cité de la Musique conducting the complete instrumental music of Gabrieli's 1597 Sinfonae Sacrae.

A champion of new music, he had commissioned and conducted the first performances of Tim Souster's Echoes (Manchester/BBC Radio 3), Joseph Horovitz's Tuba Concerto (Nottingham Festival) and Andrew Powell's[16] Falstaff: Theme and Episodes (Paris, Cité de la Musique), Chris Batchelor's Weasel Words & Winning Ways, Max Charles Davies's[17] Trinity-Credo, Simon Dobson's[18] Four Britten Sketches and Fanfare for Peter, Aaron Einbond's Floral Decorations for Bananas, Edmund Jolliffe's Breathe, Gabriella Swallow's[19] Spit, Ivor Bonnici's Three Movements for Chamber Orchestra and the UK premiere of Esa-Pekka Salonen's Stockholm Diary, Robert Saxton's Sonata on a theme of Orlando Gibbons, Britta Bystom's Rebellion in Greenery, Wilfred Heaton's Healing Stream, Christopher Gunning's Wicken Fen Jacon Bride's Percussion Concerto and Sebastian Currier's Remix.