Jacqueline Mary du Pré was born in Oxford on 26 January 1945 and began the cello as a small child. She studied at the Guildhall School of Music with William Pleeth, winning the school’s Gold Medal in 1960, and later worked with Paul Tortelier, Pablo Casals and Mstislav Rostropovich. She made her official debut at Wigmore Hall at sixteen and her American debut in 1965. In 1967 she married the pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim, with whom she formed one of the most celebrated musical partnerships of the era. Multiple sclerosis, diagnosed in 1973, ended her performing career in her late twenties, and she died in London on 19 October 1987 at the age of 42.

Du Pré is regarded as one of the preeminent cellists of the twentieth century. Her 1965 recording of Elgar’s Cello Concerto with Sir John Barbirolli and the London Symphony Orchestra remains among the most admired of all cello recordings and is inseparable from the work’s modern reputation. Her chamber performances with Barenboim, Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman were extensively filmed and continue to circulate. Listeners single out the intensity, breadth of phrasing and physical commitment of her playing. Her name survives in the Jacqueline du Pré Music Building in Oxford and in funds supporting multiple sclerosis research.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacqueline_du_Pr%C3%A9