My friend and colleague David Sigall, who has died aged 78, after a long and debilitating illness, was a director of one of London’s leading concert agencies, Ingpen & Williams, from 1972 until his retirement in 2016.
Born in London, the son of Rudi Sigall, a furrier, and his wife, Betty, David was educated at the City of London school and his first intention was to become a solicitor. However his heart was never in it and he was irresistibly drawn to the world of music. He was lucky enough to be employed by Lina Lalandi of the English Bach festival, for whom he started to work in the late 1960s.
His experience there led him to believe, in retrospect quite correctly, that his temperament and personality would suit him very well to artist management, and in 1972 he was invited by Howard Hartog to join him at Ingpen & Williams.
During his early years he was particularly involved with artists such as Joan Sutherland, Sherill Milnes, Jessye Norman, Alfred Brendel and Michael Gielen and, following Hartog’s death in 1990, Pierre Boulez and Sir Georg Solti. Later he was close to younger artists including Susan Chilcott, Joanna MacGregor, Carolyn Sampson, Markus Stenz, Douglas Boyd and Barrie Kosky. He represented the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on their annual visits to the UK and, in later years, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra.
David had a remarkable gift for friendship and built an extraordinarily wide acquaintance throughout the musical world of people who delighted in his company – either in person or through long and gossipy telephone conversations. The words elegant and urbane could have been invented for him.
He served as chairman of the British Association of Concert Agents in the 1980s and subsequently as president of the International Artist Managers’ Association. He was a governor of Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance for many years and at one time the chair of the Dartington Arts Trust. He was unfailingly generous with wise counsel and advice to both artists and colleagues.
David married Susan Chilcott in 2000 and although the marriage did not last he remained her manager until her death in 2003 and was a devoted stepfather to her son, Hugh. He faced his diagnosis with the rare degenerative illness cortico-basal syndrome with remarkable tenacity, good humour and courage and in his final years of illness was very fortunate to have the love and unstinting care of his second wife, Karen (nee Taylor), whom he married in 2018.
He is survived by Karen and by his sister Vera.
