Beloved symphony cellist dies

David Tonkonogui, a respected and beloved member of Seattle's music community, died Wednesday after a long battle with multiple myeloma, a form of cancer.

Mr. Tonkonogui, 45, who emigrated from the former Soviet Union when glasnost parted the Iron Curtain at the end of the 1980s, was a longtime member of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra's cello section. His influence, however, reached far beyond the orchestra into every corner of the Northwest's musical scene.

Mr. Tonkonogui played in some of the region's leading chamber ensembles, including the Bridge Ensemble and Music of Remembrance, and he soloed with several other groups. As a teacher, he was "a role model the size of Mount Everest," according to Jody Schwarz, wife of Seattle Symphony music director Gerard Schwarz. Their son Julian, now 12, began cello studies with Mr. Tonkonogui at 5.

Gerard Schwarz phoned from Liverpool, where he conducted a Royal Liverpool Philharmonic concert last night, to express his "great sorrow at this loss. David was a great artist and musician who saw the good in every piece of music, every concert, every person. I would do anything for him. We were very close friends. He was the most wonderful, caring person."

Mr. Tonkonogui's friend, violinist Mikhail Shmidt, who played alongside him in the symphony and co-founded the highly regarded Bridge Ensemble with him in 1993, said: "All the good things people could ever say about him are true. Usually it is only in books that you see such purity and kindness. There was not an angry bone in his body. His amazing integrity was reflected in his playing.

"Every performance had his utmost respect," Shmidt said. "It was never 'a gig' for him. It is so rare to see such respect for the music. I feel very fortunate to be in his human and artistic presence."

Mr. Tonkonogui was Russian-born, a former member of the Moscow State Orchestra and the Moscow Chamber Orchestra. As a young player, he won a national chamber-music contest. He came to New York, where he played a "knockout" audition for Schwarz, and then journeyed without his cello (which would have required another airline ticket) to Seattle to play the final audition on a borrowed instrument.

Mr. Tonkonogui is survived by his wife, cellist Mara Finkelstein, and by their daughter, Anna Tonkonogui, both of Seattle. But he leaves a much larger family behind: the bereaved students who loved him, and the family of musicians who played alongside him for 14 seasons.

The Seattle Symphony observed a moment of silence before last night's concert in Benaroya Hall, followed by the performance of a Bach Air in Mr. Tonkonogui's memory. A service will be held at 11:45 a.m. today in the Butterworth-Arthur Wright Chapel, 520 West Ray, atop Queen Anne Hill next to the Hills of Eternity cemetery.

Melinda Bargreen: mbargreen@seattletimes.com