My wife, Jackie Hartley, who has died aged 63 of cancer, was a classical violinist of the highest calibre.
She became the first female principal with a London orchestra when, in 1984, the London Philharmonic Orchestra appointed her as their principal second violin following her graduation from the Royal Academy of Music in 1982.
In 1998, after more than a decade with various chamber and symphony orchestras and performing in musical theatre, Jackie was invited by Sir Simon Rattle to co-lead the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, where she stayed for seven years.
Born in Ormskirk, Lancashire, Jackie was the youngest of three children of William Hartley, a market gardener, and Patricia (nee Mussell), a music teacher. She began learning the violin at primary school, before going on to study with Howard Davis (of the Alberni String Quartet). Awarded a scholarship, she entered the Royal Academy of Music in London to study violin and piano, and subsequently harpsichord, where she formed the Hartley Piano Trio.
She and I met following a concert at St Columba’s Church in Anfield, Liverpool, in 1989, and were married there four years later. By this time, Jackie was a member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Academy of St Martin in the Fields Orchestra and Chamber Ensemble. She was subsequently the assistant leader of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, then sub-leader of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, before joining the CBSO.
Jackie had a parallel career in London musical theatre, accompanying, from 1998, Miss Saigon, Anything Goes, Aspects of Love, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
In 2005 we moved to Kent with our two children, and Jackie became a much-loved teacher at several schools and at the Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music. In the years following, she rekindled her love of chamber music, recording and performing throughout the UK. She also resumed her association with musical theatre and the commercial session world, leading The Lion King, Follies, Evita and, latterly, The Phantom of the Opera, and recording numerous soundtracks for films, TV and pop music, including with Paul McCartney at Abbey Road.
As well as her outstanding musicianship and playing, it is her unfailing humour, humility and kindness that will be remembered, and that sustained her, and all those around her. Jackie was widely loved and admired in the music profession, and by everyone who met her.
She is survived by me, by our children, Jessie and George, and grandson, Freddie, and by a brother and a sister.
