Sir John Manduell
Leading figure in classical music, who planned the forerunner of Radio 3 at the BBC
SIR JOHN MANDUELL, who has died aged 89, was Principal of the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester from its foundation in 1971 to 1996; under his energetic direction, it became one of the leading musical academies in Europe, if not the world.
When he was appointed, he faced a peculiarly delicate and difficult task. The college was a new building, but its staff and students were an amalgamation of two existing colleges, the Royal Manchester College, founded by Sir Charles Hallé in 1893, and the Northern School of Music, which dated from 1920.
These establishments had long been rivals and the negotiations to bring them together into a new college – funded by the four local authorities of Manchester, Salford, Lancashire and Cheshire – had been protracted, often acrimonious and involved sacrifices by both parties.
Manduell, who had worked for the BBC and was therefore no stranger to the politics of music administration, had to weld a new team from a staff ready to split into two factions, and some of whom regarded each other with hostility, suspicion or contempt.
He succeeded brilliantly, and more quickly than anyone dared hope. His aim, quite simply, was to forget the past, as far as that was possible, and to concentrate on creating a new college with its own image and character.
Perhaps inevitably, some at first regarded him as on an ego trip. He set his sights as high as possible, inviting famous musicians to be visiting professors and to associate themselves with the college so that professional standards would be established.
For the opera productions, established conductors and producers or up-and-coming young ones were invited to take charge, with results that have given the RNCM performances an international cachet.
John Manduell was born in Johannesburg on March 2 1928, the son of Matthewman Donald Manduell, a leading headmaster who had won an MC during the Great War, and Theodora (née Tharp). He was educated at Haileybury, at Jesus College, Cambridge, and the Royal Academy of Music. He joined the BBC as a music producer in 1956. It was his proud boast that by defying a piece of red tape, he saved from being “wiped” the only recorded performance of Brahms’s Horn Trio in which Dennis Brain took part.
He was BBC Head of Music for the Midlands and East Anglia from 1961 to 1964. From 1964 to 1968, he was chief planner of the Music Programme, forerunner of Radio 3. In 1968 he left the BBC to become director of music at Lancaster University, achieving conspicuous success in setting up a new department and departing three years later when he became the first Principal of the RNCM.
From 1961 he was also adviser on programmes to the Cheltenham Festival, becoming its director in 1969, a post he retained for 25 years and which he much enjoyed, widening the scope of the festival from its concentration on contemporary British music to a survey of the international contemporary scene.
He was a leading protagonist of European Music Year in 1985 and it would be difficult to find a musical committee in Britain, from the Arts Council and Covent Garden to the Northern Ballet Theatre and Lake District Summer Music, of which he was not a member. He was in constant demand for competition juries. But the RNCM came first.
Manduell was insistent that the college curriculum should embrace as wide a field as possible. Jazz, brass bands, ethnic music, wind ensembles, electronics, early music, guitars – all were catered for. He was tireless in visiting overseas academies to forge links with Manchester, arranging student exchanges whenever possible. He was also diligent in seeing that students were aware of the nature of the musical world outside the college doors and took a personal interest in which agents signed up, or tried to sign up, gifted graduates.
From the inception of the college, Manduell promoted it as an arts centre for Manchester, realising that full and lucrative use could be made of its concert-hall and opera theatre. By persuading the BBC to hold its popular Young Musician of the Year competitions at the RNCM, he ensured that television viewers became aware of the place, and he made sure that the college never stood empty between terms but became the venue for firms’ conferences. With the arrival of Kenneth Baker’s Education Act, the constitution of the RNCM changed in 1989. Local authority representatives were removed and an independent board of governors became responsible for running the college. This created immense financial problems and placed Manduell under heavy strain.
No one who had seen him in committee would have been surprised that he served on so many. His comprehensive command of a subject, ability to expound it lucidly, and unruffled, courteous manner made him an ideal chairman. He was succeeded at the RNCM by Edward Gregson.
Perhaps Manduell’s greatest attributes were his ability to look at a problem globally and his refusal to compromise standards. Once he trusted someone, he was an amusing, loyal companion and an excellent host. He had his prejudices, but they rarely affected his judgments. He had a passion for cricket, especially Kent’s, and was himself a good player.
He was a specialist in French literature and music and contributed a notable survey of Roussel to Robert Simpson’s 1966 symposium on the Symphony. Amid all his other activities, he still found time for composition, his works including Diversions for Orchestra (1970), Vistas (1997), a string quartet (1976), a double concerto (1985) and a flute concerto (2002). In 2016 he published a memoir, No Bartók Before Breakfast.
He was appointed CBE in 1982 and was knighted in the 1989 Birthday Honours. In 1955 he married the pianist and teacher Renna Kellaway, who survives him with their three sons and daughter.
Sir John Manduell, born March 2 1928, died October 25 2017