I write to register my personal grief at the loss of Jane Longhurst and to express my deepest solidarity with her family and Malcolm Sentance, her partner.

I have had the good fortune of knowing Jane as a performer and player in the Musicians of All Saints and as a peripatetic teacher of violin at Falmer School, where I was head of music.

Jane was an extraordinary person, not only because she was an outstanding, if very humble, musician - a somewhat rare combination - but also a because she was a great teacher.

She could play with exquisite musicianship and faultless technique. I remember, and so will others, her rendition of J S Bach's concerto for violin in A minor with the Musicians of All Saints.

Jane was truly selfless with her time in teaching her violin pupils.

She had a particular fondness for the violin and viola students of Falmer School and we would often discuss how musical many of them were.

Jane was extraordinarily generous with her time with anybody who wanted to learn and immensely encouraging and supportive to all her students especially during their preparation for grade exams and GCSEs.

I can still remember how hard she worked on a particular student's coursework - the prelude from the cello suite in G by J S Bach transcribed for viola - and how much of her time she gave freely.

Jane never look at her watch.

Above all else, Jane was fun. She loved music intensely and would give great pleasure to anyone she played with, be it a sight-reading session, a rehearsal or a formal concert.

In the stupor that follows her tragic end in the hearts of all that knew her, the regret of what happened is superseded only by the deepest sense of gratitude for having known such an outstandingly human human being.

-Massimo Redaelli, Brighton