Founder of Academy of St Martin in the Fields was still conducting into his 90s and his Amadeus soundtrack sold 6.5m copies

Sir Neville Marriner, one of the world’s greatest conductors, has died.

The founder of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, who conducted many of the world’s leading orchestras, died in his sleep on Sunday, aged 92, the academy said.

Marriner was still conducting into his 90s, conducting a concert to celebrate entering his 10th decade two years ago, which included a rendition of Happy Birthday. His 90th birthday was also marked by Classic FM dedicating an entire day of programming to his performances.



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His soundtrack to the 1984 Oscar-winning film Amadeus is one of the most popular classical music recordings of all time. It topped the US album chart and has sold over 6.5m copies. The publicity blurb for the film said: “Only two people were qualified to conduct the score.” Below those words were two pictures: one of Mozart in powdered wig, the other of Marriner in white dickie bow. “One was unavailable,” added the blurb.



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. He will be greatly missed by all who knew and worked with him, and the academy will ensure it continues to be an excellent and fitting testament to Sir Neville.”



Born in Lincoln, Marriner began as a violinist. He studied at the Royal College of Music with WH Reed, biographer and friend of Elgar, and the Paris Conservatoire. He began his career playing in a string quartet and trio, then in the London Symphony Orchestra. He formed the Academy with the aim of forming a top-class chamber ensemble from London’s finest players. Ironically, it was conceived as a conductor-free refuge for string-players but Marriner became, as he put it, “a turncoat” – a conductor who on stage, as often as not, held a violin in one hand and a baton in the other.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Marriner in 1965. Photograph: Erich Auerbach/Getty Images

Marriner began his conducting career in 1969, after studying in the US, where he founded the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, while at the same time developing and extending the size and repertoire of the academy.

In 1979 he became music director and principal conductor of both the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Südwest Deutsche Radio Orchestra in Stuttgart, positions he held until the late 1980s.

He subsequently continued to work with orchestras around the globe. Marriner was music director of the academy from its formation in 1958 to 2011 when he became life president.

From its humble beginnings in Marriner’s front room as a group of friends getting together to rehearse, the academy, which gave its first performance in its namesake church in 1959, now enjoys one of the largest discographies – over 500 albums – of any chamber orchestra worldwide, and its partnership with its founder is the most recorded of any orchestra and conductor.

