Celebrating their roots: Academy of St Martin in the Fields anniversary events for Sir Neville Marriner's centenary

Sir Neville Marriner in rehearsal with Academy of St Martin in the Fields & Los Romeros guitar quartet (Photo: Mike Evans)

The Academy of St Martin in the Fields (ASMF) will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of its founder Sir Neville Marriner (15 April 1924 – 2 October 2016) with a series of events during April 2024 as part of its 2023/24 season with new music by Errollyn Wallen and Vince Mendoza, contributions from ASMF music director, violinist Joshua Bell, conductor and former ASMF flautist Jaime Martin and jazz drummer Douglas Marriner, plus an exhibition commemorating and celebrating Sir Neville’s life and career in the St Martin-in-the-Fields crypt.

The orchestra returns to its spiritual home, St Martin-in-the-Fields, for a celebratory concert on 15 April 2024 when Joshua Bell, Jaime Martin and ASMF leader Tomo Keller share directing the orchestra in a programme that includes an Errollyn Wallen premiere plus music by Handel, Hadyn, Mozart, and Vaughan Williams. The following day, 16 April 2024, Joshua Bell joins the ASMF Chamber Ensemble for Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-Flat Major, Op.20 and Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night), Op.4.

On 18 April 2024, there is a gala concert at the Royal Festival Hall featuring excerpts from the soundtrack to Academy Award winning film Amadeus, which celebrates 40 years since its release in September 2024. Alongside this there will be the European premiere of a work by Grammy Award-winning composer Vince Mendoza, for orchestra, violin and jazz drum kit, performed by ASMF, Joshua Bell and Douglas Marriner, Sir Neville’s grandson. The orchestra also travels to Lincoln for a concert on 24 April, celebrating that fact that Sir Neville was born in the city. 

Full details from the ASMF website.