'Oswald Russell played with ARCUS-CAELI in autumn 1997. This portrait dates from his last concert with us'

[Oswald Russell, piano]

ARCUS-CAELI, he played with us 
at the website of ARCUS-CAELI, Orchestre de Chambre de Meyrin [ARCUS-CAELI, Chamber Orchestra of Meyrin]. Meyrin is a community within the canton of Geneva, Switzerland. The article is in French. It tells us Oswald Russell first studied piano under Erna Helps, then was taught by Eric Grant at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In Paris, we are told, Russell studied wih Jacques Fevrier; and at the Juilliard School in New York City he studied with Edward Steuermann.

ARCUS-CAELI reports that in 1964 Oswald Russell went to Geneva and studied with Louis Hiltbrand. The article indicates Russell then began his composition studies in London with Lennox Berkeley. Competition successes included a First Prize in Lyon for Improvisation in both Jazz and Classical categories. 

We are told Russell was a composer for the National Ballet Company of Jamaica. “He was also the author of the music for the film Les Vieilles Lunes [The Old Moons], which was presented at the Cannes Film Festival of 1969, and of Alpha Alpha, a collective work commissioned by the Jacques-Dalcroze Institute of Geneva. He wrote pieces for piano, cello and flute; and incidental music commisioned for the Puppet Theatre of Geneva. He is also the author of Caraïbes [The Caribbean], commissioned by the City of Geneva for l'Harmonie Nautique.”

The article adds “Oswald Russell played with ARCUS-CAELI in autumn 1997. This portrait dates from his last concert with us...”