Lindsay Quartet violist Roger Bigley dies aged 69

11 June 2013, 10:34 | Updated: 12 June 2013, 10:34

Biglely co-founded the famous Lindsay quartet in 1965, focusing on the music of Bartók and Beethoven.

Roger Bigley has died aged 69. After co-founding the Lindsay quartet in 1965, Bigley went on to become assistant head of strings at the Royal Northern College of Music and Assistant Principal Viola of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.

The quartet first performed at the Royal Academy of Music, and went on to become Leverhulme Scholars at Keele University. They later held residency positions at the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester.

RNCM Principal Professor Linda Merrick praised Roger's contribution to music and music education: "Roger will be remembered as a kind and supportive colleague, who always put the interests of students first," she said. "He made an important contribution to the development of string playing at the RNCM as a viola teacher, chamber music coach and in an orchestral context. Roger was a wise and devoted teacher who was captivated throughout his life by sound – always talking about Lionel Tertis’s Essay on the Beauty of Tone in String Playing and the principles of son filé. It was a joy to behold watching him play string quintets on the beloved “Archinto” Stradivarius viola (the wonderful viola he had been loaned for some of the period he had played with the Lindsay Quartet) in the Concert Hall at the RNCM, shortly before the Quartet disbanded."

After winning a Gramophone Award for their recording of Beethoven's late string quartets, in 1984, Roger Bigley left the quartet in 1985 and was replaced by Robin Ireland. The Lindsays disbanded in 2005.

The funeral will be held on Tuesday 18 June.