The Academy of St Martin in the Fields is one of the most renowned orchestras in the world. A concert of the orchestra is the absolute must see, or must go for a true music fan.
Since its foundation in 1958, the orchestra has by now released more than 500 albums, and helped create score to the Oscar-winning movie “Amadeus” (directed by Milosh Forman). The unusual name was taken after the London church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, where the first performance was given on 13 November 1959. John Churchill, then Master of Music at the London church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, and Neville Marriner (later Sir Neville) founded the orchestra as a small, conductorless string group. Marriner conducted sitting in the orchestra, literraly holding his violin in one hand, and his baton in the other. Sir Nevill Mariner has led the orchestra until 2011, when Joshua Bell was unanimously elected as the new leader. Ever since the Grammy-awarded violinist has been working closely with ASMF as soloist and conductor. In 2013 their recording of Beethovens’ 4th and 7th Symphonies reached high positions in the Billboard chart. And one of those works the orchestra will perform in Moscow.