We are sorry to learn of the death of Raph Gonley, founder of the thriving Manchester Camerata.
Raph was working in local radio in 1972 when, seeing a gap in the market for concerts less grandiose than the Halle and the BBC Phil, he formed a chamber orchestra.
Details of his life, and of tomorrow’s memorial service, can be read here.
Arts organisations in the North West will also be sad to learn this. Raph went on to be Director of North West Arts, the body (later merged with first Merseyside Arts and then the Arts Council) that gave funding to hundreds of Arts organisations from Cumbria to Cheshire.