Dutch cellist Anner Bylsma has passed away on Thursday 25 July. He was 85 years old. He studied with Carel van Leeuwen Boomkamp at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and won the Prix d’excellence in 1957. In 1959, he won First Prize in the Pablo Casals Competition in Mexico. From 1962 to 1968 he was principal cellist in the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Later became a main figure of the Dutch Baroque School and rose to fame as a partner of Frans Brüggen and Gustav Leonhardt, who toured extensively together and made many recordings.
In 1979 Bylsma recorded the six Suites for unaccompanied cello (BWV 1007–1012) by J. S. Bach, the first of its kind on a period instrument.
