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British composer and renowned musician among plane crash victims

The crash site of the plane accident at the Simplon pass
The crash site of the plane accident at the Simplon Pass can be seen in this Valais cantonal police picture Keystone/Kantonspolizei Wallis

An award-winning British composer and an acclaimed saxophonist died along with their baby in a plane crash in western Switzerland on Sunday, confirmed a family spokesperson on Tuesday. 

The couple, Jonathan Goldstein and Hannah Marcinowicz, set off from an airfield in western Switzerland for Italy at around 9 am on Sunday. Police from the canton of Valais reported that at around 10:30 am the small piper plane crashed “due to unexplained circumstances” above the Simplon pass near the Italian border and burst into flames. 

The cause of the crash is unknown and Swiss authorities have launched an investigation. 

Just prior to take off, the couple had posted updates of their trip on Facebook with a last update from Lausanne on Saturday afternoon of Goldstein flying a small plane with Marcinowicz holding their daughter Saskia. 

In a statement, a family spokesperson said: “We are all devastated by the news of Jonathan, Hannah and Saskia’s deaths. We loved them all so very much. They were so happy together and we will miss them terribly.” 

Goldstein was a composer of music for film and television, working on projects including the film “Cape Fear” directed by Martin Scorsese. He had his own music production agency in London and had won several awards for original music. 

According to her websiteExternal link, Marcinowicz graduated from the Royal Academy of Music and played the saxophone with many top British orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Concert Orchestra. 

Couple in airplane
Various British papers have reported that Jonathan Goldstein and Hannah Marcinowicz were aviation enthusiasts. © Facebook / Jonathan Goldstein


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