WSO 18 June 2022 Concert dedicated to Gordon Thorburn

May 7, 2022

WSO has decided to dedicate our season finale concert of 2021.22 in memory of Gordon Thorburn, a longstanding member who also served as Friends Secretary and on the Board of Trustees for many years.

The first half of the concert features Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64, performed by young violinist Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux which we thought would be fitting in honour Gordon’s many years as a violinist with the orchetra.

This tribute to Gordon will be included in the programme for the concert:

It is with great sadness that WSO announces the death of Gordon Thorburn on 8 January 2022. Gordon was a violinist in WSO for several decades and he subsequently initiated the Friends of WSO scheme which has been a vital source of support to the orchestra. He was also a greatly valued and long-standing committee member until November 2021 but had to step down owing to ill health. Our regular audience members may have noticed our lovely purple concert folders which were donated by Gordon and his wife Sue.

Gordon was born in England to Scottish parents in 1940. He was head boy of Glenalmond and went on to Trinity College, Oxford University where he read PPE (Philosophy, Politics, and Economics) and was awarded both a Trevelyan and a Classical Scholarship.

Gordon trained as a Chartered Accountant with PriceWaterhouse before spending the early part of his career in Italy and Germany. He returned to the UK in the early 1970s where, after working for Yardley’s, he joined Johnson Matthey. He remained there for the rest of his career, retiring from the Executive Board in 1999.

Gordon married Sue in 1968 and they moved to Wimbledon in the early 1970s before having Susanna in 1973 and Harry in 1978. They also spent much of their time in Itchenor on the south coast where Gordon sailed a Swallow.

Away from work and family life Gordon was a talented linguist, speaking German, Italian, French and Spanish, as well as a keen sportsman and violinist. Golf was a major part of his life, playing off a handicap of 3 for many years and being a member of the the Royal & Ancient, Royal Lytham & St Annes, Alnmouth, and Royal Wimbledon, where he was Captain in 1996/7 and at other times a Trustee and Committee Member.

Gordon’s violin continues to be played by students at the Royal College of Music where it is on long term loan.

We miss Gordon greatly and send best wishes to Sue and their family and friends.