The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Renowned musician Sir Neville Marriner, aged 92
Renowned musician and founder of the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields orchestra, Sir Neville Marriner, has died aged 92.
The Lincoln-born conductor, who was last year made a Companion of Honour for his services to music, died on Saturday night.
Born on April 15 1924, Sir Neville began his career as a violinist, studying at both the Royal College of Music and the Paris Conservatoire and performing with the London Symphony Orchestra.
He founded the academy with a dream to create a top-class chamber ensemble from London’s finest players.
Beginning as a group of friends who originally gathered to rehearse in his front room, the academy gave its first performance in its namesake church in 1959, and now enjoys one of the largest discographies of any chamber orchestra worldwide.
Its partnership with Sir Neville is the most recorded of any orchestra and conductor, a spokesman said.
He discovered his talent for conducting in 1969, studying in the United States with Maestro Pierre Monteux before founding the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.
He went on to lead and work with orchestras around the globe and was appointed a CBE in 1979 and a Knight Bachelor in 1985.
In 2011 Sir Neville was appointed honorary conductor of the newlyformed I, Culture Orchestra which brings together the most talented young musicians from eastern Europe.
But his position as music director at St Martin lasted from its formation in 1958 to 2011, when he was made life president and handed the role over to the acclaimed violinist Joshua Bell.
Academy chairman Paul Aylieff said: “We are greatly saddened by today’s news.
“Sir Neville’s artistic and recording legacy, not only with the academy but with orchestras and audiences worldwide, is immense.”