Bassist collapses onstage, dies after 71 years with US orchestra

NEW YORK, USA –  A bassist who likely set a world record by playing with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for 71 years has died doing what she loved, after she collapsed onstage during a concert.

Jane Little, 87, lost consciousness Sunday, May 15 as the orchestra performed “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” the encore to a concert of Broadway tunes.

With the audience watching, Little was revived by a chorus member who had medical training, but the orchestra on Monday, May 16 announced her death at a hospital.

It is with a heavy heart that we report the passing of Atlanta Symphony bassist Jane Little, the Guinness World Record holder for longest tenure with an orchestra – a beautiful finale to her career. As stated on the ASO Musicians’ Facebook page, “She was a gem, a firecracker, and a pioneer for women in American symphony orchestras, and will be sorely missed.” Our thoughts and prayers are with Jane’s family and friends, and with all who were touched by her incredible spirit. More information is at the link in our bio.

A photo posted by Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (@atlantasymphony) on May 16, 2016 at 7:59am PDT

Little was an original member of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, first performing in 1945, the year the classical institution was founded in the city often considered the capital of the US South.

As extraordinary as her duration in the orchestra, Little – true to her name – stood only 4-foot-11 (1.5 meters) but handled one of the most cumbersome instruments, at the time the preserve of male musicians.

“I must be the smallest bass player in the country right now in a major symphony,” she told local television station WXIA earlier this year.

“I’ve had to work a lot harder to do what I do,” she said.

Little said she had wanted to be a ballerina and then an opera singer but took up the string bass as the instrument was sitting around at her all-girls high school – and the school’s orchestra needed someone to play it.

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra said that Little had played every season since her start 71 years earlier, in what it believed was a world record for the longest continuous tenure in a professional orchestra.

The institution submitted Little’s information this year to the Guinness Book of World Records, which is assessing the feat.

Little, an Atlanta native who studied at the nearby University of Georgia, performed under legendary guest conductors including Igor Stravinsky and Aaron Copland.

She also played under the baton of Star Wars composer John Williams during the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

She married the orchestra’s principal flautist, who died in 2002, and kept playing despite suffering cancer and a fall last year, although she planned to retire after the current season.

“Jane Little was an inspiration for many reasons: she was a woman who succeeded in a role traditionally reserved for men; she was a person of modest stature who played the biggest instrument in the orchestra; she was tenacious, miraculously fighting off multiple health challenges to tag her world record; and she was passionate, doing what she loved until the very end of her life,” Jennifer Barlament, executive director of the orchestra, said in a statement.

The orchestra said it was dedicating its weekend performances to Little. – Rappler.com