Life Member. Clarinet
7/9/1931 – 5/27/2024

by Chris French

Aurelio (Roy) D’Antonio was at home with his beloved wife, Margaret, when he passed from this earth on May 27 at age 92. He will be remembered as a virtuoso clarinetist, father and grandfather, teacher, friend, bicyclist, and tireless advocate for the underdog as he served in various capacities at Local 47.

Born to Italian Immigrants Giovanni and Colombia D’Antonio on July 9, 1931, Roy grew up in the East Bronx. He studied clarinet with Mr. Caffarelli of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, which included spending entire summers at Mr. Caffarelli’s house in upstate New York. Those summers were a mixture of working on the farm, clarinet lessons and lots of practicing. By the time he graduated from High School of Music and Art, Roy was already playing clarinet at a professional level; at age 18, with his family’s move to Los Angeles, he embarked on his freelance career.

While playing in the Meremblum Junior Symphony, Roy met violinist Joy Lyle. They married in 1954 and had three children: Franklyn, Christopher, and Giovanna.

In 1980, Roy married his second wife Cindy Robertson, and they had two daughters, Aurelia and Barbara. They fondly remember many summers spent in a cabin in Sequoia, absorbing nature.

Roy’s remarkable career included playing in the New Orleans Symphony, Glendale Symphony, and Ojai Festival, and touring with both the Metropolitan Opera National Company and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He played in the pit for many Broadway shows, including “My Fair Lady,” “Man of La Mancha,” “Nicholas Nickleby,” “The King and I,” and “Phantom of the Opera.”

His extensive movie and TV recording credits include “Airplane,” “Back to the Future,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Big,” “Clueless,” “Dallas,” “Dances With Wolves,” “Die Hard,” “Dr. Zhivago,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “Flipper,” “Ghostbusters,” “Gremlins,” “Godfather” I, II, & III, “Grand Prix,” “The Hunt for Red October,” “Indiana Jones,” “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,” “JFK,” “The Karate Kid,” “Star Trek,” “Taps,” and “The X-Files.”

He performed as principal clarinetist with every major ballet company that came through Los Angeles (American, German, Russian, English, Australian, Polish, French), and played with the RCA (chamber) orchestra on the last recordings of Jascha Heifetz. Perhaps most memorably, he recorded “L’Histoire du Soldat” with Igor Stravinsky conducting.

Roy is remembered by his students as an unusually passionate, demanding, and generous teacher. Teaching clarinet was not just a one-hour-a-week job for him. It was a commitment to tough love, as he guided his students along the challenging path to artistry. No amount of time or energy was too much for Roy, and he expected the same from his students. Roy loved to cook, and his students were frequent dinner guests.

Another passion for Roy was bike riding, and he covered thousands of miles on Mulholland Highway and other local mountain roads, sometimes with his sons and grandsons, and occasionally with those few of his students who were up to it.

Roy spent the last 30 years with his third wife, Margaret Wennberg, who was a longtime friend. He passed away on Memorial Day, and Margaret joined him 11 days later.

He is survived by sons Franklyn and Christopher, and daughters Giovanna (Gigi), Aurelia, and Barbara. He is also survived by seven grandchildren: Jonathan, Timothy, Kimberly, Matthew, Alex, Charlie, and Sally; and five great-grandchildren: Katie, Lauren, Violet, Charlie, and Charlotte.

Roy D’Antonio never did anything half-way. He was passionate about music, love for his family, his ideals in advocating at the Musicians’ Union, bicycling, and cooking. His intensity for life was an inspiration to all who knew him.