Horsbrugh, Ian 1941-2006

(Ian Robert Horsbrugh)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born September 16, 1941, in Welwyn, Hertfordshire, England; died of complications following surgery, July 22, 2006. Horsbrugh was a former principal of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and former president of the European Association of Conservatoires. Though his formal training in music did not begin until he was seventeen, it was extensive and including attendance at Morley College, the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and the Royal College of Music. He completed his education at the Philippa Fawcett College of Education, where he earned a Dip.Ed. in 1969. Beginning his teaching career as head of the music department at St. Mary's School in Hendon, Middlesex, Horsbrugh taught there for three years and then took a similar position at Villiers High School in Southall, Middlesex, from 1972 to 1979. In his next job, as deputy warden at the Inner London Education Authority Music Center (ILEA) from 1979 to 1985, he began garnering a reputation for facilitating collaborative efforts in the arts with his and other music facilities in the area. From 1985 to 1988, he served as vice director at the Royal College of Music, before being hired as principal of Guildhall. He served in this post from 1988 to 2002. Continuing his efforts for cross-arts collaboration that he began at the ILEA Music Center, Horsbrugh was a pioneer in cooperative education in England. Toward the end of his career, he also was president of the European Association of Conservatoires from 1996 to 2004 (he was honorary president thereafter), and as such helped the organization recommit to its mission of music education and increase its membership. Not only involved in these organizations, Horsbrugh also directed the Richmond Instant Music amateur group for fourteen years, was deputy chair of the London Arts Board in the early 1990s, and was active in the Federation of British Conservatoires from 1988 to 1998. As a scholar, he spent years researching a book that was eventually released in 1981 as Leos Janácek: The Field That Prospered. A fellow of many organizations, including the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal College of Music, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and the Royal Northern College of Music, Horsbrugh was further recognized for his contributions in 1995, when he received an honorary D.Mus. from City University.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Times (London, England), August 9, 2006, p. 47.