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   Iona Brown
   The Telegraph
   June 11, 2004

   Iona Brown, who has died aged 63, was one of the most prominent
   female violinists and conductors of her generation, and was most
   closely associated with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields,
   the chamber orchestra founded by Sir Neville Marriner in 1959,
   which she led and later directed and whose sound she was to a
   large degree responsible for shaping.

   Her recording from 1972 of The Lark Ascending by Vaughan Williams,
   with Marriner and the Academy, is one of the most graceful
   accounts of the work.  At the time it was enthusiastically
   received, capturing the imagination of the record-buying public.
   Her repertoire, while often associated with the Baroque staples
   of the Academy, was rich and varied.

   For example, the British composer David Blake wrote a concerto
   for her that she performed at the Proms with Sir Charles Groves
   in 1976 (and later recorded with Norman del Mar) and during Simon
   Rattle's second season with the CBSO (1981-82) she played the
   Bartok Concerto with him in Birmingham.

   Iona Brown was one of the few women in the 20th century
   successfully to transfer from bow to baton, insisting at the
   time that engendering fear among the rank and file of the orchestra
   would not be the key to her success.  "I've witnessed some very
   cruel conductors," she once said, "but I don't think that fear
   is a terribly good idea: there's plenty of it anyway."

   Small but authoritative, Iona Brown's cool beauty and natural
   grace could be deceiving.  Her brocade and silk dresses concealed
   a natural authority and iron will.  With her chamber orchestras
   she often directed from the leader's chair, violin in hand.
   Increasingly in later years she mounted the podium to take them
   through their paces.  She also appeared as a guest conductor
   with symphony orchestras including the Halle and the San Francisco
   Symphony.

   Iona Brown acknowledged that life as a female conductor was not
   always plain sailing.  She told the Independent in 1997: "There
   have been many occasions with various orchestras when I thought:
   I wish I was a man - because, if I was, those particular rehearsals
   would have been very different.  The man will be called 'strong
   and charismatic', whereas the woman is 'neurotic and difficult'."

   On the July evening in 1991 when Luciano Pavarotti sang in Hyde
   Park, she had the unenviable task of drawing an audience to the
   Royal Albert Hall for her Prom, in which she directed the Norwegian
   Chamber Orchestra on its first appearance in London.  She remained
   unfazed by the competition, claiming that a different type of
   audience would go to hear the tenor.  She returned to the Proms
   with the NCO in 1997 to take part in a weekend of concerts
   designed as a tribute to Benjamin Britten.

   Elizabeth Iona Brown was born at Salisbury on January 7 1941,
   her name inspired by the peace and tranquillity of the eponymous
   Scottish island.  Her father, Antony, was a pianist and organist
   specialising in the music of Bach; her mother Fiona played violin
   with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra; and the young girl, who
   once wanted to be a nurse, was given her first violin lessons
   at the age of five.  Her three siblings also became professional
   musicians.

   Iona Brown was educated at the Cathedral School in Salisbury
   and Cranborne Chase, played with the National Youth Orchestra for
   five years from 1955 ("Fiddle No 22; I remember it like yesterday"),
   and studied with Hugh Maguire in London, Remy Principe in Rome,
   and Henryk Szeryng in Paris.  She took her middle name when she
   turned professional, claiming there was already an Elizabeth
   Brown and two would be confusing.

   She played in the pit with the Ballet Rambert, was a member of
   the Philharmonia Orchestra under Otto Klemperer (and on one
   occasion Igor Stravinsky) from 1963 to 1966 and joined the Academy
   of St Martin in the Fields in 1964.  She succeeded Marriner as
   musical director in 1974, remaining with the orchestra until
   1980.

   At the age of 16 her mother had marched into Broadcasting House
   to demand an audition with the BBC Symphony Orchestra "because
   I've heard they take women".  Iona Brown was similarly unconcerned
   about storming into a man's world.  She was proposed by Miroslav
   Rostropovich in 1981 for the musical directorship of the Norwegian
   Chamber Orchestra, then at a musical and financial crossroads.

   Her relationship with the musicians was at times hot-tempered
   and their success, which came more or less immediately, cost
   tears and frayed nerves.  She demanded discipline, had drive,
   tempo and temperament, and struggled to work slowly.  The musicians
   were young and inexperienced, but they were also so disarmingly
   eager to learn and had such potential that they appealed to her
   curiosity and love of work.

   On one occasion when the orchestra was due to play in her home
   city, Salisbury, the musicians turned up for their rehearsal
   to learn that Iona Brown's mother had died that morning.  She
   had intended to say nothing and continue as usual, but as she
   approached the podium one of the violinists, who was also a folk
   singer, stood up and sang an old Norwegian hymn by way of a
   tribute.

   Iona Brown became guest conductor of the City of Birmingham
   Symphony Orchestra in 1985 and music director of the Los Angeles
   Chamber Orchestra in 1987.  She made many recordings with Marriner
   and the Academy including Beethoven's Violin Concerto and Vivaldi's
   Four Seasons.

   Iona Brown once took part in Radio 4's Kaleidoscope, explaining
   how hard it is to play The Lark Ascending.  Marriner called it
   as a nightmare to conduct, and an ornithologist described what
   a lark does when it ascends, illustrating how close to the real
   thing Vaughan Williams got.  Also taking part was the composer's
   widow, Ursula.  Her husband, she explained breezily, was good
   at growing green beans but rotten about anything else to do with
   the countryside.  "It was some place he visited at weekends,"
   she said.  "I don't think he could have spotted a lark if he saw
   one."

   On a number of occasions Iona Brown was confused with a violinist
   of the same name who played with the Northern Sinfonia in Newcastle
   upon Tyne.  Three years ago they finally had an opportunity to
   work together, with the one Iona conducting the other.

   Eventually poor health, and in particular arthritis, forced Iona Brown
   to stop playing the violin and concentrate entirely on conducting.

   Her last public performance as a violinist was a recital in Tokyo
   in February 1998.  She recalled: "It was received so rapturously
   by the audience that I went back to my dressing room, put my
   violin in its case and said: 'I'm not going to do it any more.'
   I felt it was best to go out on a high note."

   She was appointed OBE in 1986.  In 1991 she received the Knight
   of First Class Merit from King Harald of Norway.

   Iona Brown, who died on Saturday, is survived by her second
   husband, Bjorn Arnils.

Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
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