Renowned Scottish orchestral conductor dies at 92

THE internationally renowned Scottish orchestral conductor James Loughran has died at the age of 92, his family have announced.

Born in Glasgow on June 30, 1931, Loughran achieved widespread fame for his work with some of the world’s best orchestras, and was particularly noted for his spells with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra from 1965 to 1971 and the Halle Orchestra in Manchester as principal conductor from 1971 to 1983 - succeeding Sir John Barbirolli - and conductor laureate from 1983 to 1991.

He was also the first Briton to be principal conductor of a major German orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra from 1979 to 1983, and was also principal conductor of Denmark’s Aarhus Symphony Orchestra from 1996 to 2003.

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Educated at St Aloysius College and Glasgow University, and a talented pianist from a young age, Loughran shot to fame by winning the televised Philharmonia Orchestra’s conductor competition in 1961 which resulted in him becoming assistant conductor with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

A lifelong devotee of opera, he made his debut at Covent Garden in 1964 and was selected by Benjamin Britten to be music director of the English Opera Group. He was best known to the British public as conductor of the Last Night of the Proms five times between 1977 and 1985. It was Loughran who introduced Auld Lang Syne to the Proms, and it is now a staple of the Last Night.

One of his personal favourite achievements was to conduct the first concert of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra at Glasgow City Halls on January 27, 1974.

Loughran conducted many orchestral recordings, most notably the Halle Orchestra’s version of Gustav Holst’s The Planets suite which won a gold disc, and the London Symphony Orchestra’s complete Beethoven symphonies recorded in 1970 as part of the European Broadcasting Union’s Beethoven bicentenary celebrations.

He was guest conductor of many orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Vienna Symphony Orchestra.

He received numerous honours during the course of his working life, and was made a CBE in 2010. Loughran was also a Fellow of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, now the Royal Scottish Conservatoire, and was honorary conductor of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra.

Married twice, Loughran had two sons, Angus and Charles, with his first wife Nancy nee Coggan. They divorced in 1983, and Loughran married again in April 1985 to the violist Ludmila Navratil. In 1995 the couple moved to his beloved Glasgow, living happily in the West End until her death in November, 2021. His first wife Nancy and son Charles also predeceased him, and he is survived by Angus and his grandsons Frazer and Ben.

Angus Loughran, the noted sports journalist and broadcaster, said: “My father was very proud to be Scottish, and loved the great city of Glasgow.

“Sadly he latterly suffered from dementia but was well cared for by the NHS and the staff of the Mugdock House Care Home in Bearsden where he passed away on Wednesday, June 19.”

James Loughran’s funeral will be a private family event.