School of Music Professor Emeritus George Bozarth died on October 31, 2025 in La Conner, Washington. A noted musicologist whose areas of research focused on the life and music of Johannes Brahms as well as studies in early music, he was an instigator and founder of several notable chamber music series as well as a collector and curator of historical keyboards.
An eminent Brahms scholar and a lifelong supporter of the American Brahms Society (ABS), Professor Bozarth was a founder of the ABS in the Brahms sesquicentenary year of 1983, when he also helped to organize major exhibits of Brahms manuscripts and celebrations of the composer’s legacy at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. He served as the Society’s Executive Director for 31 years. His work on Brahms’s manuscripts and other primary sources continues to provide a strong foundation for scholarship, especially on the composer’s songs.
Professor of Music History at the University of Washington, Bozarth taught for forty years at the School of Music before retiring in 2018. He served for many years as the artistic director of two Seattle-based chamber music organizations – Gallery Concerts and Musique du Jour Presents, for which he and his wife, the fortepianist Tamara Friedman, organized performances on period instruments in Seattle and the surrounding areas.
“As an educator and artistic director, he strove to inspire lifelong learners of all ages to appreciate and be curious about the musical worlds of our past and present,” wrote Lindsey Strand-Polyak, Bozarth’s successor as artistic director of Music de Jour Presents.
In a Spring 2025 update to former students and colleagues from the UW, Professor Bozarth described an idyllic life after retirement: “Upon retiring in 2018 from a forty-year stint teaching about music history and culture, Bozarth, with his wife, fortepianist Tamara Friedman, moved to the lovely little fishing and farming town of La Conner, WA, with an inspiring view from his study's window of the beautiful Skagit Bay and, on clear days, the majestic Olympic Mountains. In addition to producing concerts of Classical and Romantic music on period instruments for Musique du Jour Presents (Seattle) and Anacortes Early Music, and offering recitals and teaching tours at the Skagit Historical Keyboard Museum.” At the time of his death, he was at work on several book-length projects on varying areas of interest.
In lieu of flowers, Professor Bozarth’s wife, Tamara Friedman, suggests honoring his memory with a donation to the George Bozarth Artist fund at Music Du Jour Presents. Details about the fund and other tributes may be found here.
Sources:
Tribute to George Bozarth by Music Du Jour Presents
Tribute to George Bozarth from the American Brahms Society