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Death Notice

Andrew (Andy) Hunter

Published on 13/07/2021

Andrew (Andy) Hunter

HUNTER - Andrew (Andy) Well known in Scottish orchestral music circles, Andrew Hunter, passed away on Wednesday 7th July 2021 at 7.50am. Commonly known as Andy, he began his working life as an apprentice engineer. Having started music lessons at the age of 14, the piano became his main interest and he abandoned his apprenticeship to pursue this. In his early 20s he secured his L.R.A.M and A.R.C.M with Julia Ommer and under her auspices became a piano teacher, ultimately taking the Chapter VI Music course at Jordanhill College as an escape route from an occupation he found inconclusive. During his teaching practice he attended rehearsals of the Glasgow Teachers Orchestra whose conductor was Donald B. Miller, a principal teacher and in one of his schools. After some time playing piano conductor and harp parts in the orchestra, Mr Miler invited him to take up an orchestral instrument. He expressed an interest in horn or oboe but the only wind instrument available for loan was a bassoon. He arranged lessons with Lionel Goring, principal in the B.B.C. Scottish Orchestra who had made the condition that the obsolete instrument from the Teacher's orchestra would be replaced with a modern one. Within two years He was a familiar figure, deputising in the then non- royal S.N.O and also called upon as an extra at the B.B.C. In the early 70's he played in an orchestra formed to supplement the S.N.O. who, in the early days of Scottish Opera, as the sole orchestra of the Company, but with the increasing number of productions, another occupant of the pit was needed. The S.N.O. freelance wind players were engaged and Leonard Friedman led what was basically his own Edinburgh based Scottish Baroque String Orchestra plus wind, brass and percussion. This eventually morphed into the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, initially free lance opera orchestra who gave concerts when the SNO was in the pit. Andy was, therefore a founder member of the S.C.O. In 1963 he married Aileen Way, who had been a horn player with the S.N.O. and as family obligations increased, he took an A.R.C.M on bassoon with a view to becoming an instrumental teacher in schools. This necessitated gaining practical knowledge of flute, oboe and clarinet, which with the help of ex colleagues he was not long in gaining. He was highly successful in his teaching from the late 60's in, amongst others, Bellahouston and Shawlands Academies and Jordanhill College School, where he retired. Andy continued playing well in to the 21st Century with orchestras including Glasgow Sinfonia, Glasgow Chamber Orchestra and the Dunblane Chamber Orchestra, also with wind ensembles and the Melville Wind Quintet. Andy's other interests included painting and model making. He is survived by two sons. A Funeral Service will take place on Friday 16th July 2021. Due to current restrictions, the service will be webcast: https://www.obitus.com/ Username: ziga7060, Password: 931035. Should anyone wish to attend the service or the reception after in person, please contact the family directly or Jamie Pearson Funeral Director 01360 860345 jamiepearsonfuneraldirector@gmail.com


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