Ian Hunter, 84; Agent Organized Arts Festivals
Ian Hunter, 84, British agent for classical musicians and an organizer of arts festivals who worked with the Edinburgh Festival, died Sept. 5 in Balcombe, England, of unspecified causes.
Among his clients were violinists Yehudi Menuhin and Isaac Stern, pianist Daniel Barenboim and cellist Jacqueline du Pre.
Knighted in 1983, Hunter was chairman and president for 35 years of the musicians’ management agency Harold Holt Ltd., now Askonas Holt.
Early in his career, Hunter established his festival credentials as assistant to Rudolf Bing at Glyndebourne and followed Bing when he founded the Edinburgh Festival.
Hunter, educated at Fettes College in the Scottish city, served as Edinburgh Festival artistic administrator from 1949 to 1950 and its artistic director form 1951 to 1955.
Hunter, who served in the Royal Army Service Corps during World War II, founded the Bath Festival and named Menuhin as its artistic director.
Hunter also ran arts festivals in such cities as Windsor, Brighton, London and Hong Kong.
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