Allan Stephenson, British composer, conductor and cellist who became a leading figure on the South African music scene – obituary
He contributed to an opera about Nelson Mandela, worked with Hugh Masekela and premiered several major works in his adopted country
Allan Stephenson
Allan Stephenson, who has died aged 71, was a British-born cellist, composer and conductor who made his name in South Africa; among more than 110 works he contributed the first act of The Mandela Trilogy, an opera by three composers in which his contribution explored Nelson Mandela’s early years in rural Transkei and his initiation into adulthood.
Stephenson was responsible for the South African premiere of several major European pieces, notably Nielsen’s Symphony No 4, the “Inextinguishable”. He was also behind the first classical music CD to be made in South Africa, a recording of his Concertino Pastorale for Clarinet.