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Anthony John Camden (1938-2006)
Anthony Camden, world-renowned oboist, died at his home in Brisbane, Australia on 7th March after a long battle with motor neurone disease.
Anthony was born in London on 26th April 1938. He was born into a musical family: his father, Archie Camden was the celebrated international bassoonist and his mother, Joyce (Jan Kerrison) was a 'cellist, pianist and composer. Archie was principal bassoonist of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and, with the outbreak of war, the family had to move with the BBC to Bristol and later to Bedford, where Anthony suffered two bouts of double pneumonia and the onset of asthma, which did not give him a healthy start.
Soon after the war, the family returned to London, and Anthony and his older brother, Kerry, started at Highgate School. Anthony began his musical life with the piano and the violin. Whilst still at school, he took violin lessons with the famous violinist and teacher Isolde Menges. His asthma was becoming a significant problem and was affecting his participation in one of his real passions: sport. It was suggested that a wind instrument, where deep breathing and breath control are so vital, might help, and so the seeds of his long and illustrious career as an oboist were sown.
Lessons with Evelyn Rothwell whilst still at school were followed by study at the Royal College of Music in London, where his oboe professor was the great Terence (Terry) MacDonagh. It was whilst at the RCM that Anthony and his brother formed the Camden Wind Quintet: James Galway (flute), Anthony (oboe), Peter Maunder (clarinet), Kerry (bassoon) and Nicholas Busch (French horn). And so started Anthony's love of chamber music. Also, the Camden Trio, originally Evelyn Rothwell, Archie Camden and Wilfred Parry, gradually became Anthony, Kerry and Ian Lake (piano).
During Anthony's final year at the RCM, he gained valuable experience in the profession doing extra work and deputising in the major London orchestras. The day after graduating, he was appointed Principal Oboe of the Northern Sinfonia Orchestra. During his time with the NSO, many splendid opportunities presented themselves, including a performance of the Haydn Sinfonia Concertante with Isaac Stern and Leonard Rose, and numerous concerti with the orchestra.
His next move was to become Principal Oboe with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Whilst in Birmingham, Anthony met and married his first wife, Diane Lewis. He spent five years with the CBSO where he gained further valuable experience of the full symphonic repertoire before moving, in 1968, to the London Symphony Orchestra.
Anthony was a member of the LSO for twenty years, fourteen of which as Principal Oboe and twelve as Chairman of the Board. During this period, Anthony and Diane's two children, Andrew and Colette, were born. Anthony's tenure as Chairman saw him lead the LSO through difficult and turbulent times to a position of artistic and financial security in their new home at the Barbican Centre. His boundless energy in these parallel roles earned him the nickname 'the Whizzer'! He worked closely with Karl Bőhm and Leonard Bernstein as Presidents of the LSO, and with Claudio Abbado as Musical Director.
Soon after joining the LSO, Anthony added another string to his bow: he established the London Virtuosi ensemble. Among its members were James Galway and John Georgiadis, and they made many recordings and toured the world, performing at major music festivals. For many years, Anthony was also Visiting Professor at the Guildhall School of Music. Throughout his time at the LSO, there were a great many other notable events in his musical life: recording the Bach concerto for oboe and violin with Yehudi Menhuin; playing the Mozart concerto with André Previn conducting; the Richard Strauss concerto with Abbado; and numerous exciting film scores, including Star Wars.
In 1988, Anthony changed tack completely, leaving the LSO and moving to Australia, to Brisbane where he became the new Provost and Director of the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. Despite his full-time commitment to the Conservatorium, he still managed to practise for three hours each day; maintain a busy schedule of performances and recordings in Europe and Asia; and meet and marry his second wife, Lilly Li.
After five years, Anthony accepted the post of Dean of Music at the Academy for the Performing Arts in Hong Kong. Not long afterwards, Anthony and Lilly's daughter, Sasha, was born. Anthony worked tirelessly to create a place for the Academy among the world's best music institutions and, at the same time, he inspired new projects and performed regularly to new audiences in China, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Some ten oboe concerti have been written for and premiered by Anthony and, in the 1990s, he embarked on a major recording project: thirty six concerti with accompaniment, shared between his London Virtuosi and the City of London Sinfonia. As a result, he is one of the most widely-recorded oboists in the world and leaves a legacy of which any musician could be justly proud. Remarkably, having become an oboist as an antidote to his asthma, years later a music critic from the Washington Post wrote: "Camden performed last night with a dazzling technique and a beautiful sound. The Mozart was a revelation in breath control".
Anthony lived life to the full; he mixed with royalty, politicians, business people, his friends and audiences with equal ease. He loved to travel; he enjoyed his glass of red wine; he watched cricket whenever possible (he was the opening batsman of the Highgate School first XI); he had a good sense of humour and liked a good story or joke, although when telling jokes himself, he would usually forget the punch line!
He is survived by his wife, Lilly, and his children: Andrew, Colette and Sasha.
Kerry H Camden
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