Daryl Runswick writes –

I first met Christopher van Kampen in my first week as a Cambridge undergraduate, when as a cellist I auditioned for him for the CUMS orchestra, whose cello section he led. I got in but was disgusted to find myself as far back as the fourth desk. My interest in the cello was in any case fading as the double bass and jazz loomed ever larger in my life, and after a term or two I stopped going. On leaving Cambridge Chris and I both found ourselves establishing careers as string players in London, and I played with him first in the Nash Ensemble, then the Orchestra of St John's Smith Square and finally the London Sinfonietta, of which he became principal cello. I took this photo of him on a trip to the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon where we both accompanied Ertha Kitt. Meanwhile as a composer and arranger I was using Chris as my first call cellist on everything I did. His is the Bach you hear playing on my arrangement of O Waly Waly for The King's Singers. His is the Borodin on my Adagio for Voices arrangements. And his is the intense and lyrical solo cello playing on my Variations for String Orchestra. Chris died in 1997 of pancreatic cancer, and I have since dedicated the String Variations to his memory.