Curtis Mourns the Loss of Carlos Villa (Violin '58)

Curtis mourns the loss of internationally renowned Colombian violinist Carlos Villa (’58), who passed away on June 6 at age 84. Born in 1939, Mr. Villa took up the piano and the violin as a child before traveling to the United States, where he was admitted to Curtis at age 10 to study with influential violin pedagogue Ivan Galamian (faculty member from 1944–81). Upon graduation, at the invitation of a Swiss concert manager, he was invited to travel to Zurich and take private lessons with Yehudi Menuhin. Almost a decade later, in 1967, Otto Klemperer appointed him concertmaster of London’s New Philharmonia Orchestra, a post which he held for five years playing under conductors such as Sir John Barbirolli, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Adrian Boult, Carlo Maria Giulini, Otto Klemperer, Erich Leinsdorf, Seiji Osawa, Leopold Stokowski, George Szell, and many others.

In 1973, he was appointed conductor-concertmaster of Saltzburg’s Camerata Academica in Austria, touring extensively throughout Eastern and Western Europe, South America, Australia, and Asia. In 1980, he was appointed artistic director and conductor of Bogota’s Orquesta Filarmónica de Colombia and visiting professor of violin and chamber music at the National Conservatory.

Beginning in 1978, he moved to New York City and became a member of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, The Westchester Philharmonic, and the American Composer’s Orchestra. Throughout his illustrious career, Mr. Villa accrued an impressive resume with experience in commercial, studio and film, and television work, which led him to participate in recording with the Beatles (he was featured on Eleanor Rigby and A Day in the Life),  Pink Floyd, Aretha Franklin, Tom Jones, Tony Bennett, and many other notable twentieth-century musical icons.

The Curtis community extends its deepest sympathy and condolences to the family and colleagues of Mr. Villa.

Read more about Mr. Villa’s life and legacy at The Strad. Photos of Carlos Villa courtesy of Orquesta Filarmónica de Colombia, Discogs, and the Violin Channel.