“Make any fool of me you like, but I won’t have you make fun of the music.”

The astonishingly versatile Sir André Previn was born in Berlin in 1929 and died in Manhattan in 2019. He balanced careers as a conductor, pianist and composer, spanning jazz, classical and film music.

His Hollywood career began while still a teenager, and he later became an acclaimed jazz pianist. His international conducting career blossomed from the 1960s – as did his career as an occasional but highly gifted composer.