Theater director Claire van Kampen dies aged 71

British theater director and composer Claire van Kampen has died aged 71, her husband, actor Sir Mark Rylance, has confirmed.

Van Kampen, who was the first female musical director of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, died on Saturday after being diagnosed with cancer, according to a statement shared on behalf of Sir Mark and his daughter Juliet.

They described her as “one of the funniest and (most) inspiring women we have ever known.”

Her theater credits also include writing the play Farinelli And The King, which starred her husband and was nominated for several Olivier Awards, including Best New Play, and a number of Tony Awards.

She died in the German city of Kassel, surrounded by her family, the statement said. Saturday also marked Sir Mark’s 65th birthday.

“We thank her for imbuing our lives with her magic, her music, her laughter and her love,” the text adds.

“Ring the bell, sound the reverie of the trumpets, something is done, something begins. One of the great sages has passed away.”

Van Kampen and Sir Mark married in 1989, the same year she composed the music for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Hamlet in which he starred.

She went on to compose original scores for Broadway productions including True West, Boeing-Boeing and La Bete, as well as adaptations of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Richard III.

After training at the Royal College of Music in London, where she studied music theory and piano, van Kampen joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1986.

She joined the Royal National Theater the following year and later became artistic associate to Sir Mark at Shakespeare’s Globe Theater in the capital.

Most recently, van Kampen was a Globe Associate and Senior Research Fellow on Early Modern Music at the Globe, as well as a Creative Associate at the Old Vic Theater in London.

She also worked as a Tudor musical advisor and arranger for the BBC TV series Wolf Hall.

Van Kampen had two daughters with her former husband, architect Christopher van Kampen.

His daughter Nataasha, a filmmaker, died at the age of 28 in 2012. after suffering a brain hemorrhage.