Background
He was born and educated in Leeds, and was a pupil at Leeds Modern School, a grammar school, where his father was the music teacher.
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John Fletcher
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Pembroke College.
Career
Along with composer Derek Bourgeois he played tuba in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Both arrived at Cambridge where there was only one tuba position. Fletcher switched to horn, even performing Britten"s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings.
He returned to the tuba upon his graduation from studying Natural Sciences at Pembroke College, Cambridge.
In autumn 1964, he moved to London, where he was appointed Principal Tuba of the British Broadcasting Corporation Symphony Orchestra. He left the British Broadcasting Corporation Symphony Orchestra in 1966 to join the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO).
In 1966, he also joined the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble (PJBE), with whom he played until 1986. Known to his friends as "Fletch", he was highly regarded as a tuba player and teacher.
He taught many United Kingdom professional tubists, including Patrick Harrild, who succeeded Fletcher as the LSO"s principal tuba.
Fletcher"s recordings included the Vaughan Williams Tuba Concerto. Leonard Salzedo dedicated his Sonata for tuba and piano, operation 93, to Fletcher. In March 1987, he suffered a massive cerebral haemorrhage, and died that October.
The John Fletcher Trust Fund was established after his death, in his memory, to provide bursaries for young brass players to attend the courses run by the National Youth Orchestra, National Youth Brass band and other training centres.
Membership
Fletcher also regularly tutored members of the National Youth Orchestra. Fletcher is discussed in the book "To Speak for Ourselves" (ed Alan Smythe), a collection of interviews with leading members of the London Symphony Orchestra.
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Born
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Died
1987 (aged 46) -
Nationality
United Kingdom