Jacqueline Du Pre
Cellist Jacqueline Du Pre’s exuberant, intense playing style was matched by her technical mastery of everything she played. Her hallmark piece was the Elgar Cello Concerto, which she played at her formal debut in 1961. Du Pre took up the cello at an early age and enrolled at London’s Guildhall School of Music, graduating in 1960 with a collection of awards for her virtuosity and talent. She studied with cellist William Pleeth, and took master classes with Pablo Casals and Mstislav Rostropovich. In 1965, du Pre recorded the Elgar concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra, a recording that led to widespread recognition, and then made her stage debut the same year, playing Elgar at Carnegie Hall. Du Pre had two Stradivarius cellos - one from 1673 and the 1712 Davydov Stradivarius. She married pianist Daniel Barenboim in 1967. The couple worked together on chamber music collaborations with Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zuckerman, amongst others. Du Pre’s older sister Hilary was an accomplished flutist, married to conductor Christopher Finzi. Jacqueline separated from her husband in 1971. She stayed with her sister, and became involved with her sister's husband. During this tumultuous emotional time, Jacqueline Du Pre began to experience symptoms that would lead to a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis in 1973. Although she recorded a few sonatas after this time and taught, her performing career was over. Du Pre died in 1987 in London. Her Davydov Stradivarius was left to Yo-Yo Ma.
