Kelly Isaacs

Gifted but self-effacing violinist

Kelly Abraham Isaacs, violinist: born Rangoon 31 August 1922; married 1949 Isabel Stewart (two daughters); died London 4 May 2003.

The violinist Kelly Isaacs was best known for his playing of chamber music, but he was capable of quite outstanding solo performances.

He was born in Rangoon in 1922, into a family where every member could play a musical instrument. The story goes that when his mother was expecting him she went to a Heifetz concert and there and then determined that her child should become a violinist. He began having lessons from a local teacher when he was nine and made such good progress that he was awarded an Associated Board Scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London. He had to wait until the Second World War was over before he could take it up.

In the meantime, the family left Burma for India and Isaacs was employed by the Maharajah of Patiala in the court orchestra, but he was not happy. In order to escape, he taught himself the trombone so that he could join his brother Ike, the jazz guitarist, in a dance band.

He left for the UK in 1945 and took up his scholarship at the RAM first as a student of Sydney Robjohns and, later, David Martin. One of his fellow students was the pianist Isabel Stewart, whom he married in 1949. Another was the violinist Trevor Williams, who remembered Isaacs as a very gifted player even then.

His first job when he left the RAM was second violin in the Peter Gibbs Quartet. This was an unusual opportunity for someone so young, especially as they were a well-known ensemble who gave many London concerts and broadcasts. He stayed with the Gibbs until 1953 when he decided he needed extra tuition and had lessons with Max Rostal, whom he considered to have been the greatest influence on his playing.

From then on he worked as a freelance. He broadcast duos with the pianist Maisie Balch, joined the London Harpsichord Ensemble and played in Yehudi Menuhin's Bath Festival Orchestra. He also led the Tilford Bach Orchestra under the conductor Denys Darlow for many years. One of his outstanding performances with the Tilford Festival was of the Bach Concerto for two violins with Alfredo Campoli as his fellow soloist. Darlow remembers Isaacs as "delightful, somewhat retiring and self-effacing, but totally professional. He was that rarity, a natural leader, and a superb musician." The viola player Christopher Wellington says of his late colleague:

He was very quiet in his manner but could be assertive when necessary. His playing was very sensitive and so lyrical. I shall always remember him playing the solo violin part in the Laudamus Te in Bach's B Minor Mass. In my opinion it was the best interpretation I have ever heard.

Isaacs's proudest possession was his violin made by Guarneri del Gesù, the great Cremonese maker, dated 1726. From the age of 63, Isaacs's hearing began to fail and he felt he could no longer fulfil professional engagements. But he and his wife gave concerts in retirement homes, which they found very rewarding.

Margaret Campbell