Sir Neville Marriner

- Marriner saw action in WWII when he participated in motorboat raids into France with the Royal Navy in the build-up to D-Day. He was invalided due to kidney injury. 

- After the war he completed his studies in France at the Paris Conservatoire with René Benedetti. After teaching at Eton College for a year (1947 - 1948) he became a professor at the Royal College of Music as well as being a member of the Martin String Quartet. It was at this time that he also formed the Jocobean Ensemble keyboard player and musicologist Thurston Dart and orchestral player Peter Gibb. 

- Marriner joined the Philharmonia Orchestra as a violinist in 1952, and became principal second violin of the London Symphony Orchestra in 1956 for the next 12 years. 

- In 1969, Marriner became the first music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. 

- Marriner served as associate conductor of the Northern Sinfonia from 1971 to 1973, and as artistic director of the South Bank Summer Music Festival in London between 1975 and 1977. 

- From 1979 to 1986, he was music director of the Minnesota Orchestra before going on to be principal conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1986 to 1989. 

- He was knighted in 1985

Did You Know? 

His son is clarinetist Andrew Marriner, Principal Clarinet of the London Symphony Orchestra.