16 Facts About Michael Morrow

Michael Morrow was an Irish artist, ornithologist, musician and musicologist who, together with John Beckett, founded the British early music group Musica Reservata in London during the late 1950s.

Michael Morrow directed the group, which became famous for its ground-breaking and vigorous approach to performing Medieval and early Renaissance music, until it was disbanded in the 1980s.

Norman Michael MacNamara Morrow was born on 2 October 1929, in London, to his Irish parents Larry and Leonie Morrow.

However, as Michael suffered from Christmas disease, a form of haemophilia, he had to be educated at home.

Between 1946 and 1947, the family lived in London, where Michael Morrow attended the Hammersmith School of Art.

Michael Morrow befriended John ffrench, whose work was exhibited with Beatrice and Michael Morrow's.

Michael Morrow eventually rejoined his family, who now had moved back to Fitzwilliam Square.

At this point, in 1950, Michael Morrow met the young musician and harpsichord player John Beckett in the National Library of Ireland.

Michael Morrow returned to Dublin in September 1952 with Werner Schurmann, a sculptor and singer whom he had met in Munich.

In 1953, Michael Morrow accompanied the tenor John Bilton on lute for four twenty-minute radio programmes, devised and presented by John Beckett, entitled John Dowland's Achievement as a Song Writer.

Michael Morrow now became interested in music of the thirteenth century and onwards, which meant that he had to teach himself various systems of notation to transcribe pieces into modern notation.

Michael Morrow was determined to inject more life and vigour into their performances, in contrast to the accepted style of the period.

Michael Morrow came from an Austrian Jewish family that had moved to England in 1938.

Hedy lived in Hampstead, and she and Michael Morrow had met through a mutual friend.

Michael Morrow died on 20 April 1994 from Hepatitis C John Beckett attended his funeral at Golders Green Crematorium, where he made an impromptu speech in praise of his friend.

In July 1995, a 'Colloquium on Early Music in Memory of Michael Morrow' was held in Heinz and Ruth Liebrecht's house in Hampstead.