Family pays tribute to Janet Canetty-Clarke after ‘Sussex musical whirlwind’ passes away aged 87

Janet’s children, Neil and Simone Canetty-Clarke, said their mother died in May this year at age 87. She was born on December 1, 1935, in St Helens, Lancashire.

They said: “At school in Folkestone she discovered the piano and her talent took her to London and music degrees at both the Royal Academy and Royal College of Music. Janet Clarke married Peter Canetti in 1958, our Romanian father, after they met on a romantic music weekend in Cheam.”

They said Janet taught music in South London until the couple moved to ‘a derelict 16th century farmhouse in Horsted Keynes’.

Neil and Simone continued: “She neatly juggled motherhood and music with the help of ‘Mrs Sherlock’ who looked after us, house and piano when Janet was dashing round Sussex teaching music in schools and at WIs.

“She became the conductor and musical director of the Ditchling Choral Society (now Sussex Chorus) in 1965, a role she held for 37 years, performing the great choral works to sell-out audiences – from Bach’s St Matthew Passion to Britten’s War Requiem with leading orchestras including The Philharmonia, and top soloists including Richard Lewis, Emma Johnson and Ian Bostridge. Janet worked closely with musician and broadcaster Antony Hopkins, as well as two leading composers, Malcolm Williamson, Master of the Queen’s Music and Howard Blake, bringing their music to Sussex.”

During her career Janet performed at The Royal Albert Hall, The Wigmore Hall, The Purcell Room and The Maltings, Snape.

Neil and Simone said: “She was an inspiring and amusing communicator, with a vast library of musical anecdotes that brought her subject to life and created an instant bond with her audience. In later life she lectured around the UK for NADFAS, taught adult education classes for Sussex, Surrey and Cambridge Universities, lectured in Australia, Africa and Germany, and was proud to be appointed the first Guest Conductor of the First All Women’s Chamber Orchestra of Austria in 1983.”

Peter, who was an entrepreneur, died in 2000. Most recently Janet lived at St Georges Park on Ditchling Common. She suffered a stroke in 2020 and and was cared for at St Rita’s Care Home for the last three years of her life.

They added: “Janet is survived by us, three grandchildren, Felix, Lily and Pim, and a great granddaughter Wren. Her love of music lives on in all of us and the tens of thousands of people in Sussex and beyond who were lucky enough to hear and see her in action.”