FORMER Jersey Arts Centre chairman Michael Munz-Jones has died at the age of 88.
Mr Munz-Jones, who in retirement founded the Amici Artium group of private sponsors that brought countless international musicians to the Island to perform at the Arts Centre, had been in poor health for some time.
Originally from Staffordshire, Mr Munz-Jones had strong Jersey connections through his wife, Marion.
He came to the Island in 1975 before settling permanently ten years later, after a successful City career in banking and property development. Soon after, he joined the Jersey Arts Council, precursor of the Jersey Arts Centre management committee, later becoming its chairman and leading the organisation to establish itself with regular funding from the then States Education Committee.
Mr Munz-Jones was also chairman of the Jersey Association for Youth and Friendship, and of the Jersey branch of Men of the Trees, now called Trees for Life.
But his unique contribution to the cultural life of the Island was to come almost 20 years ago when, frustrated by the difficulty of securing commercial sponsorship for concerts at the Arts Centre, he determined to do something about it himself, as he later explained to the Jersey Evening Post.
‘One day I was at a concert in London and I saw from the programme that it was sponsored by the Friends of the English National Opera. I thought to myself that surely there should be in Jersey a Friends of the Arts Centre to fund classical music recitals,’ he said.
Mr Munz-Jones opted for a Latin version, Amici Artium, capitalising on his Cambridge degree in Classics. Each year he would approach like-minded people, seeking a contribution to a series of recitals which was to provide the Island with a concert series the envy of many large cities.
Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt, Russian violinist Alina Ibragimova and Czech quartet the Skampa were just some of the performers who illustrated the star quality of his programming while, to mark the success of the venture in 2015, Peter Donohoe – top prize winner at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in 1982 – gave a special concert.
Mr Munz-Jones later observed that audiences accustomed to travelling to venues like the Wigmore Hall in London or to concert halls in continental capital cities could enjoy exactly the same experience by parking in Minden Place and simply crossing Bath Street.
‘I feel guilty if I’ve got a famous artist who’d fill the Carnegie Hall and we may have, say, 100 people in the audience.
‘The interesting thing is that lots of artists say not to worry about it. They like the fact that the audience are very attentive and that they’d much rather have a hundred people who really enjoy the concert than have an audience full of clacquers. It isn’t about the applause, it’s the concentration and interest that they show,’ he later observed.
Arts Centre director Daniel Austin paid tribute to Mr Munz-Jones, saying he made a tremendous contribution to the Jersey Arts Centre as a hugely successful chairman, honorary life member and founder and programmer of the Amici Artium series.
‘We can’t imagine Michael not being here at our forthcoming concerts. His contribution to the classical repertoire at Jersey Arts Centre has been unparalleled and his absence will be a loss to us all. Our thoughts are with Marion and his family at this time,’ he said.
