Geoff Nuttall, violinist with the St Lawrence String Quartet, has died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 56.
As the quartet’s founding first violinist, as director of chamber music for the Spoleto Festival USA and as a Stanford University faculty member since 1998, Geoff was an inspirational and much respected presence in the chamber music field.
Geoff’s St Lawrence colleagues issued the following statement:
‘With utmost sadness, today we said goodbye to our friend and colleague Geoff Nuttall. He died at age 56 with his wife Livia at his side.
‘Geoff was an inspired artist whose loyalty to his chosen passions and people was legendary. (…) He had an energetic and spiritual connection to music that rubbed off on anyone lucky enough to witness him play. He constantly inspired us to heights we never dreamed of.
‘In his home bases at Stanford University, at the Spoleto USA Festival and in many other places around the world, Geoff touched countless lives through his performances, teaching, advocacy and friendship. We will miss him every single day, but feel immensely grateful to have been his fellow traveller.’
Over the course of the Quartet’s 33-year career, Geoff performed internationally on five continents. He also collaborated with composers including John Adams, Osvaldo Golijov, and numerous others, and recorded Grammy-nominated and Juno award-winning albums.
Geoff and his St Lawrence colleagues served as graduate ensemble-in-residence at the Juilliard School, Yale University, and the University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music, and on the faculty at Stanford University, where the quartet has been ensemble-in-residence since 1999. From 2009 until his passing, Geoff was the director of chamber music at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, where he brought together some of chamber music’s most beloved musicians to celebrate the art form with spontaneous collaborations, and delighted audiences with his engaging, warm and insightful introductions.
Geoff lived in the Bay Area with his wife, violinist Livia Sohn, and their two sons, Jack and Ellis.
Photo: Marco Borggreve