Conductor Downes, Wife Die In Swiss Suicide Clinic

[Saffi]

~ I say rest in peace and congrats for having control over their lives till the very end~

British conductor Edward Downes, a longtime stalwart at the Royal Opera and maestro of the first-ever performance at Sydney's iconic Opera House, has died with his wife Joan at an assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland. He was 85 and she was 74.

The couple's children said Tuesday that the couple died "peacefully and under circumstances of their own choosing" on Friday at a Zurich clinic run by the group Dignitas.

"After 54 happy years together, they decided to end their own lives rather than continue to struggle with serious health problems," said a statement from the couple's son and daughter, Caractacus and Boudicca.



The statement said Downes, who became Sir Edward when he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991, had become almost blind and increasingly deaf. His wife, a former dancer, choreographer and television producer, had devoted years to working as his assistant. British newspapers reported that she had been diagnosed with cancer.

Dignitas founder Ludwig A. Minelli said he could not confirm the deaths due to confidentiality rules.

Downes' manager, Jonathan Groves, said he was shocked by the couple's deaths, but called their decision "typically brave and courageous."

The deaths are the latest in a series of high-profile cases that have spurred calls for a legal change in Britain, where assisted suicide and euthanasia are banned.

Despite the law, British courts have been reluctant in recent years to convict people who help loved ones travel to clinics abroad to end their lives.



Born in 1924 in Birmingham, central England, Edward Downes studied at Birmingham University, the Royal College of Music and under German conductor Hermann Scherchen.

In 1952 he joined London's Royal Opera House as a junior staffer - his first job was prompting soprano Maria Callas. He made his debut as a conductor with the company the following year and went on to become associate music director. Throughout his life he retained close ties to the Royal Opera, conducting 49 different operas there over more than 50 years.

He also had a decades-long association with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, where he became principal conductor and later conductor emeritus.

Downes was known for his support for British composers and his passion for Prokofiev and Verdi, on whom he was considered an expert.

In the 1970s he became music director of the Australian Opera, conducting the first performance at the Sydney Opera House in 1973. He also worked with the Netherlands Radio Orchestra and ensembles around the world.

The couple is survived by their children, who said their parents "both lived life to the full and considered themselves to be extremely lucky to have lived such rewarding lives, both professionally and personally."

The family said there would be no funeral.

[blueyes]

I believe it should be up to the person in question... So I voted yes.

Rest in peace, Mr & Mrs. Downes.

[Saffi]

I voted yes also...after seeing some patients starve to death because they refuse to eat and tube feeding isn't helping and morphine is their only option before insanity...I say let them have the right to die with peace and dignity.

[blueyes]

Wow, that's so sad, I`m sure you see some very tragic cases in your line of work.

[plenty]

I voted as it is a per person bases...

What would one call assisted suicide, is the person of right mind, and can they really make the right descion...

I think back to cases of people in car accidents, for the first while they may be willing to die, but should one help them???  Also in cases of finding out one has cancer.... I know a woman who lived 35 years after first cancer bout and had 7 children, she lost both breasts, one at a time two years between, lost her one leg in three sepearte operations, other leg went to the knee, then she was three years in remission, then had bowl cancer, and a brain tumour was operated on and survived three more births and 15 years then had skin cancer and last child, then a year later had to have tubes and ovaries removed and part of stomach, she lived 10 more years free of cancer and then got more bowl cancer and her lungs.... she held her first great-grandchild and 10 grandchildren.... she died amazing in her sleep.... heart attack....

So, I am really in this case....  I worry that hubbies that want to get rid of their wives that are sick would say they were just assisting in their suicide also parents with children that are terminally ill...

Just really concerned like most other things in life that it could be taken wrong or to the extreme....

I do however agree that feeding tubes should not be forced on a patient that is dying to prolong their life.... sometimes when it gets to that point I feel an extra shot of morphine would be better.... let them die in peace and with a little dignity....

I know I would not want to live in a veggitive state also, so I hope that my man would be caring enough to help me say goodbye if ever there was a time that I could not speak for myself...

That is why I am so ....

[Sirfixalot]

I say its between the person who wants to die, and God, if they happen to believe in God, which I do.