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Lys Symonette, Last Artistic Link to Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya, Dies at Age 90

Jan. 01, 2006

Lys Symonette (1914-2005)

Lys Symonette, Kurt Weill’s musical assistant on Broadway from 1945 to 1950, and Lotte Lenya’s accompanist and musical advisor from 1950 to 1981, died of a heart attack in Windsor, New York, on Sunday, November 27, at the age of 90. At the time of her death, she was still active as vice-president of the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, as well as its musical executive, having been appointed to that responsibility for Weill’s legacy in Lotte Lenya’s will in 1981. A consummate musician and coach, a sensitive translator of German into English and vice versa (responsible in fact for the English translations of many of Weill’s most important music theater works), she was, as Hal Prince has described her, ”the real thing – full of old world graces to match her brains, talent, and loyalty.”

Read the full obituary at http://www.kwf.org/pages/news/news.html

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