Sir Neville Marriner | Photo by Erich Auerbach
One of the ensembles you hear regularly on KUSC is London’s Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, reputedly “the world’s most recorded orchestra.” (Their recorded performances include the soundtrack to the movie Amadeus.) Most of those recordings were made under the ensemble’s founder, Sir Neville Marriner.
In the 1940s and 1950s, Marriner played violin with most of the London orchestras. In 1958, while playing in the London Symphony, he founded the Academy. In the early days, Marriner led the ensemble from the concertmaster’s chair. When he moved to the podium, his relationship with his players remained the same. “I was never a potentate swinging a scepter, but was always in a dialogue with my musicians.”
Over Marriner’s many years with the Academy, his method of selecting players stayed the same. After the initial auditions, musicians would be put into the group for a few concerts to see if they could adapt to its style. “But the most important test,” says Marriner, “is to take them on tour and see if you can bear to spend time with them. If they are miserable devils, they don’t get invited back.”
After over 50 years of leading Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Sir Neville Marriner passed the baton to violinist Joshua Bell, naming him the new Music Director.
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Alan Chapman
Alan Chapman, in addition to his weekday morning program, is also the host and producer of two weekend programs: Modern Times and A Musical Offering.
After receiving his undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he earned a Ph.D. in music theory from Yale University. He is currently a member of the music theory faculty of the Colburn Conservatory. He was a longtime member of the music faculty at Occidental College and has also been a visiting professor at UCLA and UC Santa Barbara. His analytical work has appeared in the Journal of Music Theory and in The New Orpheus: Essays on Kurt Weill, winner of the Deems Taylor Award for excellence in writing on music.
Well known as a pre-concert lecturer, Alan has been a regular speaker on the L.A. Philharmonic's "Upbeat Live" series since its inception in 1984. He also works closely with the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Pacific Symphony. His lectures have been presented by virtually every major performing organization in southern California. He has been heard globally as programmer and host of the inflight classical channel on Delta Airlines.
Alan is also active as a composer/lyricist. His songs have been performed and recorded by many artists around the world and have been honored by ASCAP, the Johnny Mercer Foundation, and the Manhattan Association of Cabarets. His children's opera Les Moose: The Operatic Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle was commissioned by LA Opera for its 1997-98 season. Alan frequently appears in cabaret evenings with his wife, soprano Karen Benjamin. They made their Carnegie Hall debut in 2000 and performed at Lincoln Center in 2006. Their recent CD, Que Será, Será: The Songs of Livingston and Evans, features the late Ray Evans telling the stories behind such beloved songs as "Mona Lisa" and "Silver Bells."
