Charles Mackerras: a life in pictures ... and music

A young Alan Charles MacLaurin Mackerras, born 17 November 1925 in Schenectady, New York of Australian parents Photograph: Collect image Mackerras plays the flute at the age of 14. 'I always wanted to become a musician,' he once said. 'It got to be that I was hardly interested in anything else. From about eight or nine I had a sort of mania about it' Photograph: Collect image After emigrating to Britain in 1947, Mackerras received a British Council scholarship to study with the eminent Czech conductor Václav Talich in Prague Photograph: Collect The young Mackerras, photographed around the same time Photograph: Collect Mackerras annotating a score at his house in Pembridge Crescent, London, in 1951 Photograph: Collect Mackerras photographed with one of his early influences, composer Benjamin Britten, at Orford church near Aldeburgh in 1959. Although the two were later to fall out – Mackerras made a badly judged joke at the older man's expense – Mackerras's clear, precise approach made him a superlative interpreter of Britten's music Photograph: Collect Mackerras with his wife, Judy Wilkins, on their golden wedding aniversary in 1997 Photograph: Collect Mackerras rehearses with the Prague Chamber Orchestra in Rudolfinum Hall in 2002 for a concert marking the orchestra's 50th birthday. Czech music – particularly that of Janáček – was a lifelong fascination Photograph: Czech News Agency/PA Just a few months ago Mackerras was presented with the Artis Bohemiae Amicis medal (Friends of Czech Arts) for promotion of Czech art abroad Photograph: Ivan Babej/isifa/Getty Images In addition to his concert work, Mackerras maintained a busy career in the opera house. For his 80th birthday in 2005, he conducted the Royal Opera's revival of Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera Photograph: Tristram Kenton Mackerras at home in London, 2005. 'I'd quite like to die on the podium,' he joked in an interview with the Guardian that year . 'Well, something like that, anyway' Photograph: Eamonn McCabe