Page 746 - Liverpool Philharmonic 22-23 Season Coverage Book
P. 746
19 January 2023
Atarah Ben-Tovim obituary
Off-beat flautist who created children’s concerts featuring crockery for percussion
Ben-Tovim in 1985 with a pupil. She herself began playing aged 11
REX FEATURES
Atarah Ben-Tovim was so obsessed with the flute, which she had a remarkable gift for playing,
that she kept 1,300 figurines and dozens of commissioned portraits of the instrument in her
rundown barnhouse in southwest France.
“I’ve stopped collecting them now,” she finally declared in 2020, by which time they filled five
rooms. “My husband can’t stand it any more. ‘It’s more than enough,’ he says.”
Ben-Tovim’s enthusiasm was never more evident than when captaining Atarah’s Band, an
ensemble she started in 1975 to make classical music more appealing to children. Made up of
six musicians and two composers, and equipped with a flute, oboe, trumpet, trombone, electric
guitar, bass guitar and drum kit, they played a mix of jazz, rock and baroque and toured schools
across the northwest of England. It was propelled by the irrepressible Ben-Tovim, who once
compared being a professional flautist to being a professional athlete.
