The Academy of St Martin in the Fields

The Academy of St Martin In The Fields
Chamber Orchestra in London

The Academy of St Martin in the Fields, formed in 1958, by Sir Neville Mariner, CBE is a flexible Chamber Orchestra. Its name is derived from various academies that gave concerts in London in the 18th century and the church, St Martin in the Fields, where it gave its first concert on 13th November 1959. Concert-giving societies or ‘Academies’ had flourished in 18th century London, including in the church o St Martin in the Fields, and the aim of the ensemble was to resurrect this type of performance in a modern context.

The group begain without a conductor, but has sinced played under the baton of Mariner, and various guest directors, including Kenneth Sillito, Iona Brown, Murray Perahia, Joshua Bell, Gil Shaham, Anthony Marwood, Julia Fischer and Julian Rachlin. Initially, its repertoire concentrated on the Baroque period, but since then it has expanded its repertoire to include many different styles.

The orchestra now spends most of its time on international tours, but is also to be found doing education and outreach work, making recordings, or playing concerts in the UK. Although it does not play at St Martin in the Fields very often, the orchestra still considers the church to be its spiritual home. Surprisingly, unlike the majority of major UK orchestras, the Academy does not receive any government subsidies and it has to rely on donations and commercial ventures, such as its recordings, for funding.

The Academy of St Martin in the Fields made its first recording in 1960. Since then it has made over 500 recordings, and that number is growing. Perhaps the most well-known of these was for the multi award winning soundtrack of the film, Amadeus, on which they played a number of the Mozart pieces. This has given the Academy of St Martin in the Fields a truly global following which leads to the orchestra being in demand in a large number of foreign countries. The success of Amadeus was followed up with soundtracks for The English Patient and Titanic in 1997. Although Titanic won the Oscar for the best soundtrack, it is the ‘Amadeus’ soundtrack that remains the Academy of St Martin in the Fields’ best selling recording.

The Academy has an extremely busy touring schedule and it has been involved in a number of important occasions over the years. In 1997, it performed at the celebrations for the handing over of Hong Kong by the Britain to China. More recently, it has traveled to Italy, Switzerland, Romania, Holland, Germany, Poland and the USA. The Academy of St Martin in the Fields was also the first orchestra to play in the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. When it is not on tour abroad, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields often plays at London’s Barbican Centre. However, its schedule for 2007 includes a major European tour, including Switzerland, Spain, Germany, France and the Czech Republic.