My partner, Nina Trott, who has died aged 66 of breast cancer, was a professional jazz violinist and teacher. She was also a political activist who started young, accompanying her parents on the Aldermaston marches as a child in the early 1960s.
Nina was born in Herne Hill, south London, to Nigel Trott, a professor of radiology, and his wife, Inge (nee Kompfner). She attended Bessemer Grange primary school and a grammar school in Sutton.
She joined CND and became a member of the Labour party, attending anti-fascist protest marches in London. She also went to the Greenham Common anti-nuclear camp and was active in the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign.
Nina pursued a successful career as a professional jazz violinist, playing with the Gypsy jazz quartet Hot Strings and later the world jazz quintet Radio Banska. As a musician she was held in high esteem by fellow professionals and was much in demand as an accompanist.
Nina moved to Bath in 1978, and she and I met when we were both administrators at the Bath fringe festival. She became a peripatetic music teacher, inspiring young musicians at Combe Down primary school and Somervale school, in Midsomer Norton, as well as those she taught in her very own conservatoire – our front room in Bath. It was there that in 2013 she created what she regarded as her finest achievement: the Ramshackle Orchestra, a multi-generational, mixed-ability string orchestra.
She spent much of her time sourcing the eastern European music for which her orchestra became renowned. She would painstakingly arrange the parts in a bespoke and loving way for each and every player whatever their ability. The one quality needed to be a member of the Ramshackle was quite simply the ability to play from the heart.
She is survived by our son, Joe, and me.
