Simon Fletcher Charitable Trust

The music goes on...

Registered Charity No. 1094808

Simon Fletcher (15 March 1964 - 3 April 2000)

Simon’s unexpected death at the age of 36 cut short a life in music that was helping to shape the careers of many celebrated singers. As an artists’ manager, his passion for music, his extraordinary knowledge of the repertoire and his finely-tuned musical judgement was relied on by many in the world of opera.

Beginning his career in the UK, Simon spent the last four years of his life as a director of Jenifer Eddy Artists Management in Melbourne, where he represented and advised a number of major performers and was regarded as a growing influence in opera in Australia.

His life was committed to music: making it, listening to it and talking about it. Hum a snatch of some little-heard aria to him and he could invariably name the work, list some of the greatest performances, impart a bit of background gossip and probably produce a vinyl recording of the complete opera from his extensive record collection.

But he was no opera bore. He might have taken music seriously but he also enjoyed nothing better after an evening’s performance than adjourning to a nearby hostelry to join members of staff and cast in a glass of wine, an informal post mortem and a bit of in-house gossip.

He was equally at home in the UK and Australia and had the passports to prove it. Born in Sydney, Simon was educated at Sydney Boys’ High and in the UK at Cavendish School, Hemel Hempstead, where he played cello and flute in school and youth orchestras. From Cavendish he won a physics place at University College, London but after a year decided his true interests lay elsewhere and transferred to Kings College to study musicology.

Like many of his contemporaries in the music world, Simon began his arts administration career with English National Opera before joining the John Coast office of Harold Holt Ltd (now Askonas Holt) in London as an artists’ manager. This led to a directorship at Jenifer Eddy Artists’ Management in Australia.

In his spare time, Simon sang tenor with the Chelsea Opera Group and later became an enthusiastic member of the Melbourne Chorale. Passionate about many things, lukewarm about nothing, he would delight in wandering the Italian countryside in search of an out-of-the-way church, coming upon an old master on the wall within and then treating himself to a lengthy lunch in celebration of his discovery.

He was always good company, unfailingly well-mannered and had a ready charm and wit. When, during the ballet season, a female member of the visiting Bolshoi was reported to be having an unusually vigorous love life, Simon brought the house down – or at least that part of the house gathered at the bar in ENO’s green room -- with the comment, ‘She’s just a girl who can’t say "niet."’

Simon died in his flat in Melbourne, suddenly and unexpectedly. The coroner was unable to ascertain a reason. His funeral service in Melbourne was attended by leading lights of the Australian opera world. A few months later his memorial service at St. Paul’s, Covent Garden, was similarly attended by many leading figures from the London musical scene.

He is survived by his parents Mary and Brian, sister Verity, brother Eliot and nieces Skene and Myrtle.