At the heart of British musical life for over 30 years, Nicholas Snowman, who has died suddenly aged 78, will be remembered in this country not only for the three flagship organisations he headed – London Sinfonietta, the Southbank Centre and Glyndebourne – but also by countless cultural enterprises to which he gave his committed support.
Known as a quietly determined, even ruthless, administrator of radical persuasion, he energised the scene with his ambitious ideas but did not always succeed in carrying his colleagues and superiors with him and seemed happiest when able to repair to his beloved France, where he ran the Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg from 2002 to 2009.
