Academy of St Martin in the Fields

[7] In 1974 Neville Marriner encouraged László Heltay to form the Chorus of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields,[8] composed of straight, accurate voices and designed to match the instrumental sound of the by then world-famous orchestra.

Heltay's choral and Marriner's instrumental styles matched perfectly, and the partnership of 25 years took Heltay and the Chorus through numerous concerts, tours and 28 recordings from the major choral repertoire with soloists such as Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Janet Baker, Kiri Te Kanawa, Robert Tear and Anthony Rolfe Johnson.

[12] In more recent years, after its dedicated chorus was discontinued the orchestra has worked with a number of independent choral groups, such as the Ambrosian Singers and as of 2024 it is regularly joined by the professional St Martin’s Voices.

Recorded by the Academy and Sir Neville Marriner in 1984, the soundtrack to Amadeus reached #1 in the Billboard Classical Albums Chart, #56 in the Billboard Popular Albums Chart, has sold over 6.5 million copies to date and received 13 Gold Discs, making it one of the most popular classical music recordings of all time.

Drawn from the principal players of the Academy and led by violinist Tomo Keller, the Chamber Ensemble performs in all shapes and sizes, from string quintets to octets, and in various other configurations featuring winds.

[19] The Marriner 100 programme commenced on 15 April, the actual centenary day, with a concert at the orchestra’s spiritual home, St Martin-in-the-Fields, directed/conducted by leader Tomo Keller, music director Joshua Bell and former Academy flautist Jaime Martin, in which former members of the Academy Chorus, who had sung under Marriner, performed a suite from Die Schöpfung.

[20] BBC Radio 3 broadcast the concert as the climax of its Neville Marriner Day, with all its programmes devoted to his life, work and legacy.