Wartski regret to announce the death of its Chairman and owner Michael Nicholas Snowman on 2nd March 2023.
We regret to announce the sudden passing of Wartski’s owner and Chairman Michael Nicholas Snowman OBE on 2nd March 2023.
Nicholas Snowman was an arts administrator who co-founded two celebrated contemporary music ensembles, the London Sinfonietta and the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris. He was the first Artistic Director of IRCAM, the music department of the Pompidou Centre, Artistic Director then Chief Executive of the Southbank Centre, and General Director of two opera companies: Glyndebourne and l’Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg.
Appointed Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1985. He was raised to Officier in 1990 and Chevalier of the National Order of Merit in 1995. In 2006, he was appointed Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur and Officier of the Order of the British Empire in 2014 for promoting British Cultural Interests in France.
Nicholas Snowman’s support of the arts was wide-ranging. He served as Trustee of the Victoria and Albert Museum Foundation and the New Berlioz Edition, and Honorary Trustee of the Royal Academy of Music. He was previously a Trustee of the Aurora and Monteverdi Chorus and Orchestras; the Cultural Olympiad; the development board of Hampstead Theatre; and the music committee of the Venice Biennale.
Nicholas Snowman became Chairman of Wartski upon the death of his father Kenneth Snowman in 2002. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the firm founded by his great-grandfather Morris Wartski, as are his widow Margo Snowman Rouard and his son and Vice-Chairman of Wartski Hector Snowman.