The School was very sad to hear of the death of the violinist Lydia Mordkovitch on 9 December. As well as being a professor at the Royal Academy of Music from 1995, Lydia taught at the School from 1996 to 1997.
The Daily Telegraph obituary reports that Lydia was 'renowned for insisting that her students do more than simply practise. “Go to the ballet! Read Chekhov! Become Russian!” she exorted one protégé who was struggling with Tchaikovsky.' That insistence on musicians having a wider familiarity of the arts and culture was one with which Yehudi Menuhin would surely have agreed.
Lydia's grandaughters Juliette and Tanja were both pupils at the School in recent years. We extend our warmest sympathies to them, as well as to Lydia's daughter Ilana and her husband Nick.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11290327/Lydia-Mordkovitch-obituary.html