Rebecca Anne Muir

Rebecca Anne Muir, 68, of New York City, passed away on October 4, 2023 after a brief illness.

Born November 14, 1954, to William Lewis Muir and Dorothy Elin Muir in Palo Alto, California, Rebecca was introduced to the world of music at an early age. Dorothy, having been trained as a concert pianist, gave Rebecca a piano lesson each day before school. Rebecca began her life as a violinist in Palo Alto as a student of Jenny Rudin and enjoyed her time as a member of the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra. Upon graduation from Mountain View Union Academy in 1972, Rebecca went on to study violin with Raphael Bronstein and Ariana Bronne at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. She began performing professionally and joined Local 802 in 1977. She was awarded a Master of Music degree in violin in 1979 and enjoyed a long and fulfilling career as a freelance musician in New York.

Throughout a career that encompassed a variety of musical styles, Rebecca played both modern and baroque instruments. She performed regularly with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, New Jersey Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, American Symphony, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the New England Bach Festival. She enjoyed playing the Caramoor Festival, Chautauqua Festival New York, Ravinia Festival, Wolf Trap, Tanglewood and Jazz at Lincoln Center. In addition, she toured Europe with various groups, performed at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany, and spent multiple summers with the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy.

Rebecca performed, toured, and recorded with Boston's Handel and Haydn Society under Christopher Hogwood and San Francisco's Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra under Nicholas McGegan. She also performed with the American Classical Orchestra of Connecticut and the Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra. She played with Mostly Mozart and the Classical Band under conductor Trevor Pinnock.

On Broadway, Rebecca's many credits included "Les Misérables," "Sunday in the Park with George," "Sweeney Todd," "City of Angels," "The Will Rogers Follies," "The Rink," "Baby," "Meet Me in St. Louis," "The Secret Garden," "Showboat," "Dreamgirls" and "Nine."

Rebecca recorded with Wynton Marsalis, Marcus Roberts, Grover Washington, Jr., Paquito D'Rivera and Lionel Hampton. She performed with Mel Torme, Marian McPartland, Bobby Short, Maureen McGovern and Cab Calloway among others. She was privileged to participate in Sir Simon Rattle's Carnegie Hall tribute to Duke Ellington.

Rebecca performed and recorded with Whitney Houston, Aaron Neville, Elton John, Pat Metheny, Vanessa Williams, Sting, Metallica, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Liza Minnelli, Bernadette Peters, Chita Rivera, José Feliciano, Tammy Wynette and Willie Nelson. As a member of the Orchestra of St. Luke's, Rebecca took part in the performance of Paul McCartney's piece "Standing Stone" at Carnegie Hall in 1997 and the 2006 Carnegie Hall premier public performance of McCartney's classical long-form composition "Ecce Cor Meum."

Over the years, Rebecca participated in many televised concerts, operas, theatre and gala events.

She taught violin at the Birch Wathen Lenox School, a private school in Manhattan, the Bloomingdale House of Music, and taught privately throughout her playing career.

As a young girl, Rebecca, known to her friends and family as Becky, cherished the summers spent with her father, mother and sister, Jenny, at Yosemite National Park. Throughout her life, Becky spoke about hiking, swimming, and the pleasure she found in being outdoors. Early in her career, she lived and worked in Baden bei Wien, Austria where she and Jenny enjoyed swimming in Worther Lake by Klagenfurt and Villach near the Austria/Italy border.

Becky cherished her friends and was famous for enthusiastically recounting stories and anecdotes punctuated by her mischievous chuckle. Her delightful sense of humor was as an endless source of fun.

In 1983, Rebecca met aspiring opera singer Stephany Duncan in New York City. They shared a deep commitment to their life together for the next 40 years.

In 2010, Rebecca retired due to health concerns. She possessed a lifelong passion for reading and spent the subsequent years reading widely and enjoying a quiet life with Stephany.

Rebecca was preceded in death by her mother Dorothy and father William. She is survived by her loving partner Stephany, her beloved sister Jennifer (Norman) Goss, nephew Eric (Kitty Carter) Goss, and great-nephew Orion Goss.