Desmond Andrew Hamilton
Premium memorial FeaturedLovingly known as “Des”
30 March 1947 — 9 October 2024 · aged 77
Ulster Orchestra principal cellist, teacher to hundreds and keeper of a cello named Bertha
Belfast, United Kingdom Born in Armagh, Northern Ireland Resting at Roselawn Cemetery, BelfastAbout Desmond
The cello had a name, which Des Hamilton would share only with people he trusted: Bertha. She was made in Mirecourt around 1890, she had a small crack under the f-hole that he refused to have mended, and for thirty-one years she sat beside him at the front of the Ulster Orchestra's cello section, sounding, he said, a good deal better than he deserved.
Desmond was born in Armagh in 1947, the son of a county council surveyor and a piano teacher, and took up the cello at nine because the school happened to have a spare one. He studied at the Royal College of Music in London, came home to Belfast in 1971 and joined the Ulster Orchestra at the height of the Troubles, when playing a concert at all was an act of faith. He became principal cellist in 1978. Colleagues remember a man who rehearsed with a pencil behind his ear and a cup of tea on the floor beside his chair, and who could make a Mahler adagio sound as though it were being whispered to one person.
During a bomb alert at the Ulster Hall in 1976, the audience and players were sent out to the foyer. Des carried Bertha down the stairs, sat on the bottom step, and played the Sarabande from Bach's Second Suite until the all-clear, with a few hundred people standing in the half-dark to listen. 'It seemed better than standing around' was the only comment he ever made. He taught at Queen's University Belfast and coached youth orchestras across Ulster for decades; dozens of professional cellists trace their bow hold to his kitchen table in Malone.
He married Heather, a primary school teacher, in 1973, and they raised Ruth and Jonathan in a house in South Belfast where somebody was always practising and somebody else was always complaining. He was a lay reader at St Anne's Cathedral, an enthusiastic and terrible golfer, and the baker of the world's most stubborn soda bread. He died on 9 October 2024 at the Royal Victoria Hospital after a short illness, with Heather beside him and the Elgar concerto playing quietly in the room.
“Don't let her hear you being afraid.”
- Faith
- Christian
- Place of birth
- Armagh, Northern Ireland
- Resting place
- Roselawn Cemetery, Belfast
- Passed away
- 9 October 2024, Belfast
Funeral Service
Tuesday, 15 October 2024 at 10:00 UTC
Add to calendarMemorial fund
Desmond Hamilton Young Strings Fund
A bursary to send a young string player from Northern Ireland to the Ulster Orchestra's youth programme, in memory of a lifelong teacher.
$5,120.50 raised of $5,000
100%20 recent contributions
- NA
Nasreen Akhtar gave $47.50 · 1y ago
- EH
Elke Hartmann gave $95 · 1y ago
- AN
Anonymous gave $237.50 · 1y ago
“With love from the diaspora.”
- BN
Brendan Nolan gave $47.50 · 1y ago
“In honour of a great man.”
- NC
Nancy Chebet gave $71.25 · 1y ago
“God comfort you all.”
Life journey
Cello performance studies
Royal College of Music1965 – 1969 · London
Studied under a Hungarian master who taught him to listen before he played.
Section cellist
Ulster Orchestra1971 – 1978 · Belfast
Joined at the height of the Troubles, when every concert was an act of faith.
Married Heather
1973 · Belfast
A marriage of fifty-one years.
Cello teacher and youth orchestra coach
Queen's University Belfast1980 – 2012 · Belfast
Taught and coached hundreds of young string players across Ulster.
Lay Reader
St Anne's Cathedral1990 – 2024 · Belfast
Read the lesson every Remembrance Sunday for thirty-four years.
Honorary Doctorate of Music
Queen's University Belfast2010 · Belfast
For services to music and music education in Northern Ireland.
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Family & connections
Desmond is survived by
- Heather Hamilton· Spouse
- Ruth Hamilton· Daughter
- Jonathan Hamilton· Son
- 3 grandchildren· Grandchildren
Tributes & memories
6 people have shared a memory of Desmond.
Knew Desmond? Share a memory with the family and everyone who loved them.
Sign in to write a tribute- NB
Former student, now a cellist in Toronto
He taught me at fourteen and lent me Bertha for my first big concert. 'Don't let her hear you being afraid,' he said. I played better than I ever have. I never told anyone that I cried afterwards in the car park.
- KH
Neighbour in Malone, Belfast
For thirty years I fell asleep to Bach through the party wall. A week after the funeral, a teenager at number 14 began a scale in D major, very slowly. The whole street stopped what it was doing and listened to her climb.
- CM
St Anne's Cathedral
Des read the lesson every Remembrance Sunday for thirty-four years and never rehearsed it. 'I don't want it to sound like a performance,' he said. It never did. It sounded like a man speaking quietly to people he loved.
- PC
Queen's University Belfast
He taught our cellists with a pencil and a cup of tea, never raising his voice and never lowering the standard. A student once told him she was too nervous to play. He asked her to play it for Bertha first. She did. She now teaches in Vienna.
- SG
Violist, Ulster Orchestra
I was on the stage for the Ulster Hall alert of 1976. I have heard that Bach Sarabande played by the finest cellists in the world and never better than on that stairwell. It was for a few hundred strangers. It was for nobody and for everybody.
- AM
Principal cellist, Ulster Orchestra
Des sat in the chair I now occupy for thirty-one years and left a pencilled note in every part. The note in the Brahms second says, 'Breathe here, like you mean it.' I am still not sure whether it was advice about the music or about life.
