Jennifer Bate

An unswerving determination informed Jennifer Bate’s approach to her 50-year career as a concert organist—she once famously waded through the lagoon waters lapping around St Mark’s Venice to give a recital in the basilica. She was born in London in 1944, daughter of the organist H.A. (Horace) Bate. He proved a formative influence, nurturing the qualities of interpretative clear-sightedness, rigorous articulation and unflappable technique that would take her, as a sought-after recitalist, to over 40 countries. Closely identified with the music of Olivier Messiaen, her recordings of his complete organ works met with both the composer’s wholehearted approval, and, in the case of the world premiere 1987 recording of his late cycle Le Livre du Saint-Sacrement, the award of a Grand Prix du Disque. Other encyclopaedic projects included series devoted to César Franck and Felix Mendelssohn. While a devotee of Romantic repertoire, she also enthusiastically championed contemporary music, and among those who composed for her were Naji Hakim, Andrzej Panufnik and Peter Dickinson. She died in 2020.