Jacqueline du Pré

Jacqueline du Pré was an English cellist who achieved international fame for her expressive performances of works by composers such as Beethoven, Chopin, Dvorák, Haydn, Schumann and Strauss. She was acclaimed for renditions of pieces by Edward Elgar after she played his cello concerto on her 1962 debut at the Royal Festival Hall with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. She performed and recorded with many great orchestras and conductors around the world including her husband, pianist Daniel Barenboim, with whom she toured with immense success. She retired in 1973 after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and she died in London in 1987 aged 42.

Born in Oxford, England, she learned music from her pianist mother and studied later at the Guildhall School of Music in London. From 1959 she performed in youth concerts, appeared on BBC television and won top prize in the annual competition at Guildhall. She won the Queen's Prize for outstanding musicians under 30 and in 1961, when she was 16, she debuted at Wigmore Hall in London accompanied by Ernest Lush. After her acclaimed Elgar performance with the BBC Orchestra, she played his cello concerto at the BBC Proms with Malcolm Sargent conducting. She studied further with Pablo Casals and Mstislav Rostropovich and performed internationally with stars such as Yehudi Menuhin, Itzhak Perlman, Zubin Mehta and Pinchas Zukerman.

In 1970, the first signs of her illness began to show and within two years she was unable to play. In her final performance in February 1973, she played Brahms' 'Double Concerto' with Zukerman and the New York Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein. She made many recordings during her brief career winning Grammy Award nominations for 'Brahms: Sonatas in E Minor and F Major for Cello and Piano' (1969), 'Dvorák: Concerto in B Minor for Cello' (1971), 'Beethoven: Sonatas for Cello (Complete)' (1976), 'Elgar: Concerto for Cello, Op. 85' (1977) and 'Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio in A Minor' (1985).

Emily Watson played Jacqueline du Pré in a 1998 feature film titled 'Hilary and Jackie' with Rachel Griffiths as her sister, flautist Hilary du Pré. Based on a memoir by her sister, it was criticised heavily for fictionalising aspects of their lives. She was depicted in an unpleasant way whereas many of her collaborators recalled her fondly, not least for a disposition that led to the nickname Sunny.