Prague-born Turnovsky was a pianist and, principally, a conductor but was long handicapped by opposition to him by the Czech communist regime. However, after the ‘Velvet Revolution’ things improved. He conducted opera companies in Norway and in Bonn. In 1992 he became conductor of the Prague Symphony Orchestra which he brought to London, performing Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass superbly.

Philip L. Scowcroft