Roger Tapping will be remembered by Boston audiences, colleagues, former students and friends as a really nice guy, despite also being widely acknowledged among the sovereigns of the viola. Before taking up residence in the Boston area as a member of the faculty at Boston Conservatory, of the New England Conservatory of Music, of Yellow Barn, and before becoming a guest and finally a Member Musician of the Boston Chamber Music Society, he was violist of the famed Allegri and Takács String Quartets. He was an admired colleague and inspiring influence everywhere he went, or was heard; a champion for chamber music, and also an engaging soloist with orchestras in and around Boston in works of Kancheli and Walton. From Boston he was recruited to The Juilliard School to become violist of its renowned Juilliard String Quartet. His every departure has left us better than when he arrived.
Good night, sweet prince,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
