Obituary: Professor Ian Kemp, musicologist, 80

Professor Ian Kemp, a distinguished musicologist, has died, aged 80.

Mr Kemp was born in Edinburgh, but educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford, and then Felsted School. At Cambridge, he read music and developed a passionate interest in contemporary music.

In 1954, he started work for Schott’s music publishers, a job he held for ten years. Then, in 1964, Kemp embarked on a career in academia, joining the music department of Aberdeen University, where he proved an innovative and inspiring colleague and lecturer.

After Aberdeen he went on to work at St John’s College, Cambridge, then as Professor of Music at Leeds University and finally at Manchester University.

One of his first important publications was a symposium he edited for Sir Michael Tippett’s 60th birthday in 1965 and this was extended 20 years later into an acclaimed biography of the composer, Tippett – The Composer and His Music.

Mr Kemp became recognised as an accomplished broadcaster and played a leading part in 2005 on BBC Radio 3’s celebration of what would have been Tippett’s centenary.

The night that Tippett died, Mr Kemp led the tributes on Radio 3.

Illness in his later years sadly prevented Mr Kemp from extending the book on Tippett to include a detailed analysis of his later compositions.

He is survived by his second wife, the conductor Sian Edwards, their son and one son and four daughters from his first marriage.

The Rev Kerr Spiers, the former minister of the Baptist Church in Morningside, has died, aged 80.

Rev Spiers was born in Hamilton, the son of a miner who became a minister.

He decided at the age of 18 to become a minister and attended Rawdon College, the Baptist seminary in Leeds.

His first appointment was to the Baptist Church in Edinburgh’s Morningside, where he established a reputation as a challenging and provocative preacher.

He left Morningside for the Baptist congregation in Anstruther, and wanted to explore theology further and so enrolled to undertake postgraduate studies at St Andrews.

He took a Bachelor of Philosophy degree there and then agreed to become the minister of Hillhead Baptist Church.

He later became involved in religious broadcasting, contributing to STV’s Late Call and to Radio Scotland’s Thought for the Day.

Rev Spiers retired in 1999, but remained a very welcome and appreciated preacher in Canonmills Baptist Church.

Rev Spiers is survived by his wife Betty and two children, Fiona and Graham, and six grandchildren.