ORGANISERS of a popular Powys music festival are mourning the loss of Barrie Gavin, described as an “outstanding filmmaker”.
Mr Gavin, a British film and television director, died on November 12, aged 89. His loss has been mourned this week by organisers of the Presteigne Festival, whom he had collaborated with.
“We are extremely sad to report the passing of Barrie Gavin – an outstanding filmmaker, tireless supporter of living composers and a long-standing friend of the Presteigne Festival, where many of his films were shown,” said festival director, George Vass.
“The new music world has lost one of its major champions – RIP Barrie.”
Mr Gavin lived during his later life in the Presteigne area, but was born in London in June, 1935. He joined the BBC as an assistant film editor in 1961; and with the opening of BBC 2 in 1964, he began to direct programmes principally about music.
His experience in the cutting room led to the making of film documentaries, and in 1996 his fascination with contemporary music brought him into contact with the French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez.
Over the next 40 years they collaborated on a series of documentaries on the founding fathers of 20th-century music: Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, Bartók, Stravinsky, Ives, Varese, Messiaen and Boulez himself. They made 12 films together.
In 1970 Mr Gavin began to explore folk music with the writer and musician A. L. Lloyd and together they travelled across the UK and visited Romania, Hungary and the United States.
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He went on to direct concerts for television while working in Germany in the late 70s.
In the 1980s Mr Gavin began a collaboration with the conductor Sir Simon Rattle; they worked on a series of productions with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
He also worked with and produced 10 films with composer and writer Gerard McBurney. The two began a collaboration with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on a series of music documentaries for the internet in the 2000s.
In addition, Mr Gavin made films on literature and the visual arts. In 2008 he received an award from the International Music Publishers' Association for services to contemporary music.
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