Academy of St Martin in the Fields

Orchestras

‘...this band operates like a pack of wolves.  The impact of the ensemble was breathtaking, a riveting likemindedness, laced with spectacular displays of inspired individuality.’  The Scotsman, April 2007

Sir Neville Marriner says that the small ensemble he founded in 1958 ‘had no intention of giving any concerts or continuing forever’. Happily, whatever the initial intention, 50 years on the Academy is firmly established as one of the world’s leading chamber orchestras and, according to The Times journalist Richard Morrison, ‘As you travel round the globe, the Academy’s name has an aura possessed by no other British orchestra’.

Formed from a group of leading London musicians and working without a conductor, the Academy gave its first performance in its namesake church on 13th November 1959. Its debut recording just two years later, had ‘...precision, care, consummate musicianship and more sense of style than all other chamber orchestras in Europe put together’ (Denis Stevens).

Demand for the Academy, particularly in the recording studio, soon began to grow as did the size of the orchestra and the repertoire it performed. Eventually Sir Neville was forced to put down his violin and take up the conductor’s baton, but the collegiate spirit and flexibility of the original small, conductorless ensemble remains an Academy hallmark. Today the Academy performs in combinations ranging from a chamber group to a symphony orchestra.

Known for its superlative performances and award-winning recordings, the Academy maintains a high-profile international concert schedule and alongside its performances with Sir Neville Marriner and Kenneth Sillito collaborates with some of today’s most thrilling musicians, including Murray Perahia, Joshua Bell, Julia Fischer, Julian Rachlin, Janine Jansen and Anthony Marwood.

During its 50th anniversary year the Academy performed throughout the UK, Europe, the USA and Canada, as well as a private concert at Buckingham Palace before HM Queen Elizabeth II to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Commonwealth.  The 2009/2010 season will see the orchestra travel even further afield, with concerts at the Beijing Music Festival with Gérard Korsten and Sarah Chang,and tours to the USA with Julian Rachlin, Asia with Joshua Bell and across Europe and the UK with the Academy’s Principal Guest Conductor, Murray Perahia.

Beyond the concert hall, the Academy’s Outward Sound education activities will continue to take classical music beyond the traditional concert setting, involving participants of all ages in rural and urban communities in school projects, family music days and creative music making.

 ‘The musicianship that streamed from the stage last night was beyond superlatives… The playing from this legendary conductorless orchestra coupled all the grandeur of epic Beethovenian playing with the flawless intimacy of seasoned chamber musicians.’  Michael Tumelty, The Glasgow Herald

SEASON 2009/2010

For further information please visit www.asmf.org

SIR NEVILLE MARRINER

Sir Neville´s career developed from the encouragement of a musical family, and continued through a long association with the Royal College of Music in London, as both violin student and professor.

His conducting career was initiated by Pierre Monteux , the French “maitre”, who taught many conductors of the present generation.

In 1959, a group of London musicians headed by Neville Marriner, formed the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, which quickly became an influential ensemble in the Performance of seventeenth and eighteenth century music.

Nowadays, the Academy embraces a comprehensive repertoire of chamber music, symphonic, choral and operatic works, and its heavy concert, festival, touring and recording commitments account for about 30% of Sir Neville´s schedule.

The rest of his working life is devotetd to longstanding associations with the symphony orchestras of Europe, America and the Far East, with occasional excursions into the opera house.

SEASON 2009/2010

ACADEMY CHORUS

Since its foundation in 1975 by Laszlo Heltay, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields Chorus´s fresh, clear voices have been deliberately chosen to match the unique sound and musicianship of the world-famous orchestra. Laszlo Heltay set the standards for a distinctive tone now admired throughout the choral world and the quality of performance has continued to grow under Joseph Cullen andcurrent Chorus Director, Johan Duijck.

The Chorus has not only maintained its pre-eminent reputation but has expanded its versatility still further, collaborating with Richard Hickox and the City of London Sinfonia, Iona Brown and Daniel Harding with the Academy orchestra, and working with the Academy´s own Chamber Ensemble, covering new repertoire as well as augmenting its a cappella appearances. Performing regularly in the UK with Sir Neville Marriner, highlights of the Chorus´s history also include the John Tavener tribute season in the Royal Festival Hall under Richard Hickox.

The Academy Chorus is well known throughout the world and has taken part in a variety of high profile performances. These include Bach's B minor Mass at the Rheingau Festival, Haydn's The Creation with Sir Neville Marriner in Santiago de Compostela Cathedral in northern Spain, a celebration for Mozart's Bi-centenary at Carnegie Hall, Handel's Messiah for the 250th anniversary performance in Dublin, and in Hong Kong for the 1997 handover. The Chorus´s success abroad helped the Academy of St Martin in the Fields win its coveted Queens Export Achievement Award, becoming the only orchestra to be so honored.

The Chorus´s achievements in live performances are matched by its success in the studio with over 30 CD´s to its credit. Notable recordings include Handel's Messiah, Mozart's C minor Mass with Dame Kiri Te Kawana and Mendelssohn's Elijah with Thomas Allen. The Chorus also recorded and toured with Paco Peña in his Misa Flamenca. More recently the Chorus became part of the Milken Family's archive of Jewish-American music and recorded a cappella works by Percy Grainger and choral music by Edmund Rubbra with Richard Hickox, the latter receiving a Gramophone nomination for Best Choral Work in 2001. TheChorus was also an integral part of the Oscar Award winning"Amadeus"soundtrack with the Academy orchestra and Sir Neville Marriner.

Under its current director, the Flemish conductor, composer and pianist, Johan Duijck, the Academy Chorus aims to further study the a cappella repertoire as well as performing the larger choral works with the Academy orchestra.

JOHAN DUIJCK

Johan Duijck (b. 1954) reveals an artistic versatility as a choir conductor, composer, pianist and teacher. Since 1997 he has been principal conductor of the Flemish Radio Choir, an ensemble of 25 professional singers. With this choir he is promoting enthusiastically the most recent works of Flemish and international composers. In 2002 he was appointed Chorus Director of the famous chorus of Academy of St Martin in the Fields in London. In 1994 he was entrusted by the European Federation of Young Choirs (Europa Cantat) to become the first conductor of the newly formed European Youth Choir, members of which are selected from thirty countries. He has been conducting the Gents Madrigaalkoor since he was eighteen.

Johan Duijck appears frequently as a guest conductor for prestigious ensembles, such as the Orquesta Sinfónica Real in Seville, the Dartington Festival Orchestra, the Danish National Radio Choir, and the Choir of the Spanish Radio and Television. He is in considerable demand as a lecturer and also as an adjudicator at international choir festivals and conducting courses.

As a composer, Johan Duijck shows a predilection for piano and choral music. He was awarded the Prize of the European Youth Festival (Neerpelt), the Prize for vocal composition of both East and West Flanders and the Composition Prize EPTA (European Piano Teachers Association). His cantatas Alma de la música and Cantate Domino Canticum Novum, both for choir, soprano solo and orchestra, have gained international recognition.

Apart from conducting and composing, Johan Duijck cherishes his first great love: the piano. In his recitals (From Bach to Ugró), he intersperses masterpieces of the music literature with forgotten pearls, original findings and works that threaten to be lost in the dark recesses of history.

Johan Duijck is a professor at the Royal College of Music in Ghent, the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel and the Dartington International Music School. Since 2000 he has directed the conducting courses at Euskalerriko Abesbatzen Elkartea (Spanish Basque Country).

Johan Duijck studied at the Royal Music Academies of Brussels and Ghent, where he obtained a First Prize in nine disciplines and a Masters Degree in piano and chamber music. He is a graduate of the internationally famous Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel. His principal teachers were Peter Cabus (composition), Robert Steyaert (piano) and László Heltay (conducting). He won the Günther, Pro Civitate, Tenuto, Ollin and Lefranc Prizes. In 1997 he was awarded the prize Haec Olim, in recognition of his versatility as a musician.