Gervase de Peyer

British clarinettist, conductor, and clarinet teacher. Born 11 April 1926, London, England, UK - Died 4 February 2017.
Towards the end of World War II, he joined The Band Of HM Royal Marines. He studied at the Royal College of Music, London. In 1950, he was a founding member of the Melos Ensemble Of London for which he continued to play until 1974. He served as principal clarinetist of London Symphony Orchestra from 1956 to 1973. He was a founding member of The Chamber Music Society Of Lincoln Center in 1969, and played with them for twenty years. In 1992, he founded the Melos Sinfonia of Washington. In 1999-2000, he was a principal artist at Paxton Hall's Chamber Music Festival in Scotland. For over thirty years, he toured and recorded with the classical pianist Gwenneth Pryor. In 1959, he began teaching at the Royal Academy of Music.
In 1950, he married the cellist Sylvia Southcomb with whom they had a son, Merv de Peyer and two daughters, Lorrayn de Peyer & Janine de Peyer. They divorced in 1971, and later that year he married the mezzo-soprano Susan Daniel. They divorced in 1979.