Gerard Hoffnung

Gerard Hoffnung was born in Berlin in 1925 and went to London in 1939 as a schoolboy refugee. Although he died at the early age of 34 years, he achieved in his short life enough to fill a whole series of lifetimes. Artist, teacher, cartoonist, caricaturist, musician and tuba player, broadcaster and raconteur, a much sought after speaker at the Oxford and Cambridge Unions and prison visitor, a Quaker - these were all facets of a creative personality.

Hoffnung published a series of books depicting conductors and orchestral instrumentalists. However, he is probably most remembered for his two Music Festivals held at the [Festival Hall]? in London. Both these featured humerous musical works commissioned especially for the event and written by the then contemporary composers of the day.