Leo Quayle (11 December 1918 - 19 May 2005) was a South African conductor described as the "South African maestro of music theatre."

Early life

Quayle was born in Pretoria where he trained with his father, Leo Quayle snr., and Isadore Epstein. He conducted an orchestra for the first time at the age of fourteen, and conducted the Pretoria Juvenile Orchestra in 1934. He won the University of South Africa Scholarship for Piano in 1936. He took up this scholarship at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

in 1937, and returned after the end of the Second World War. He studied under Herbert Fryer and

Constant Lambert Leonard Constant Lambert (23 August 190521 August 1951) was a British composer, conductor, and author. He was the founding music director of the Royal Ballet, and (alongside Dame Ninette de Valois and Sir Frederick Ashton) he was a major figu ...

at the

where he won the Stier Prize for conducting in 1939, and the Hopkinson Gold Medal in 1946. He spent the Second World War in South Africa as an organiser/director of the Union Defence Force Entertainment Unit.

Career

During the 1940s and 1950s he was firstly the assistant and later the principal conductor at the Sadler's Wells Opera Company in London as well as one of the first music directors for the

Welsh National Opera Welsh National Opera (WNO) () is an opera company based in Cardiff, Wales. WNO gave its first performances in 1946. The company began as a mainly amateur body and transformed into an all-professional ensemble by 1973. In its early days, the ...

. He directed television operas, conducted ballet and film music at

Denham Film Studios Denham Film Studios (''later dubbed Anvil Studios)'' was a British Film studio, film production studio operating from 1936 to 1952, founded by Alexander Korda, in Buckinghamshire. Notable films made at Denham include ''Brief Encounter'' and D ...

, and conducted various British orchestras including the London Symphony, Bournemouth Symphony and Hallé Orchestras. He was also a part-time professor at the Royal College of Music. He spent 1953 as the Chorus Master at

Glyndebourne Glyndebourne () is an English country house, the site of an opera house that, since 1934, has been the venue for the annual Glyndebourne Festival Opera. The house, located near Lewes in East Sussex, England, is thought to be about six hundre ...

. He returned to South Africa to teach music at the Conservatorium of Music at the

University of Stellenbosch Stellenbosch University (SU) (, ) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant university in Sub-Sahara ...

, and was appointed professor of music at the University of the Orange Free State in 1958. Seen as "largely responsible for putting Bloemfontein on the musical map," he established both an orchestra and a string quartet in the city. In 1961 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Music, while in 1964 he became the director of Music and Opera for PACT in Johannesburg. He founded the PACT Orchestra in 1965 which accompanies PACT's Opera and PACT Ballet. He composed the music for the ballet ''La Fenêtre'' which was choreographed by Audrey King and performed by PACT Ballet in 1966. In 1973 he was awarded the Nederburg Prize for Opera. He was involved in conceptualising and planning the State Theatre in Pretoria which opened in 1981. He retired from PACT in 1983, after which he spent two years at

Calgary Opera Calgary Opera is a Canadian opera company based in Calgary, Alberta. The company has its administrative base at the Mamdani Opera Centre, a facility in the Wesley United Church, since July 2005. The company gives its seasonal mainstage productio ...

and a season with the Bochumer Symphoniker.

Personal life

Quayle met his Durban-born wife Joan in the Entertainment Unit during the Second World War. Joan, a singer under the name Joan Ayling, died in Durban in 1993. They had two sons: Bruce Anthony and Leo. He died of pneumonia in Durban on 19 May 2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quayle, Leo 1918 births 2005 deaths 20th-century South African classical composers South African conductors (music) 20th-century conductors (music) South African composers South African male composers Alumni of the Royal College of Music Fellows of the Royal College of Music