Barry Tuckwell AC OBE, the horn player, conductor, teacher and author, has died at the age of 88.

Barry Tuckwell

Born on March 5, 1931 in Melbourne to Charles Tuckwell, an organist, and his wife Elizabeth, Tuckwell played the piano, violin and organ growing up. When his family relocated to Sydney, he sang with the choir at St Andrew’s Cathedral School and also served as an organist there. Introduced to the French horn at the age of 13, Tuckwell studied with Alan Mann at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He made rapid progress – at 15, he became third horn with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and a year later joined the Sydney Symphony Orchestra as principal horn. During his three-and-a-half-year stint with the SSO, Tuckwell played every major horn concerto in the standard repertoire.

Tuckwell moved to London in 1950, becoming Assistant First Horn with the Hallé Orchestra under Sir John Barbirolli in 1951. In 1955, he became principal horn of the London Symphony Orchestra, a position he would hold for 13 years. It was during this period that Tuckwell became an internationally recognised soloist and recording artist. He resigned from the LSO in...