Jiří Tancibudek

Jiří Tancibudek AM (5 March 19211 May 2004) was a Czech-born Australian oboist, conductor and teacher of great renown in his adopted country and elsewhere. His obituary in the Adelaide Review, titled "Prince of the oboe", said of his playing: His performing was characterised by a brilliant agility, but always at the service of a singing line. He was particularly renowned for a sparkling upper register, beyond the reach of all but a few of his contemporaries. Critics worldwide consistently commented on his excellence, lauding his "superb craftsmanship", "ease and naturalness of playing", "effortless virtuosity", "expressive shading"‚ and "tonal beauty". His first teacher was Jan Mikeš. He studied at the Prague Conservatory, and in 1944 became oboist with the National Theatre Orchestra. They decided to escape from Czechoslovakia into Bavaria, West Germany in January 1950.

He could not return to his native country until February 1969, when he played there with the University of Adelaide Wind Quintet. But his name was generally suppressed by the Czech authorities until 1989, when he returned to Czech Republic, on the strength of the direct invitation letter from the president Václav Havel, to give concerts and master classes, and to be a jury member of the Prague Spring International Music Festival.

He visited Japan in 1991 and 1995 as a jury member of Tokyo International Oboe Competition (sponsored by Sony).

Jiří Tancibudek died on 1 May 2004, on board an aircraft passing over Central Australia, established by the Elder School of Music. Other tributes included that of Daniel Barenboim, who wrote to his widow, "He was an exceptional human being and a great musician".

Premieres and works written for him Bohuslav Martinů's Concerto for Oboe and Small Orchestra (1955) was written for Jiří Tancibudek at his request. It was sponsored by the Sydney Daily Telegraph in celebration of the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne. It had its world premiere in August 1956 in Sydney, with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt.

Tancibudek also gave the European premiere (Hamburg, March 1958), and local premieres in Vienna and Vancouver.

Jindřich Feld's Oboe Concerto, arguably the best 20th century oboe concerto after Martinů, was written for Tancibudek.

Margaret Sutherland wrote her Concertante for Oboe and Strings for him in 1961.

Other composers who wrote for him included Ian Keith Harris, Miriam Hyde, Dorian Le Gallienne, and Franz Holford.

Students Tancibudek's students included: Norman Weiner (who succeeded him as Principal Oboe with the MSO, and who was in turn the grand-teacher of Diana Doherty); Jeffrey Crellin (another MSO Principal Oboe); David Nuttall; Anne Gilby; Peter Veale; Vivienne Brooke;, David Sydney Morgan and Ian Keith Harris.

Lineage His daughters Sandra and Eve carry on his musical lineage: Sandra is a string player based in Berlin, and Eve is an Adelaide-based teacher. His grandson Raphael Christ is concert master of the Bochumer Symphoniker and his granddaughter Sarah is a former harpist of the Vienna Philharmonic, one of the very few female members of that orchestra. Further two granddaughters are musically active. Hannah plays the oboe and Sophia is currently studying violin.