Andrew Marriner

Andrew Marriner held the position of principal clarinet in the London Symphony Orchestra from1986 to 2019, having succeeded the late Jack Brymer in that post. During his orchestral career Andrew maintained a presence on the worldwide solo concert platform, in the field of chamber music, and as a teacher.

Andrew first played with the LSO in 1977 under Sergiu Celibidache and, as guest principal, on the orchestra’s 1983 world tour. He later became principal clarinet of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, a position he held concurrently with his commitment to the LSO until 2008.

As a soloist Andrew has been a regular performer in London, both at the Barbican and the Royal Festival Hall. As both performer and teacher, his career is worldwide in its reach, taking him regularly from Europe to the Americas, Asia and Australia.

Throughout his career, Andrew has performed with chamber ensembles around the world, including the Chilingirian, Lindsay, Endellion, Moscow, Warsaw, Orlando, Saccone and Belcea string quartets, as well as being a member of the LSO’s chamber ensemble. He has performed with some of the most distinguished figures in the world of chamber music, among them Alfred Brendel, André Previn, Andras Schiff, Lynn Harrell, Stephen Isserlis, Emanuel Ax, Hélène Grimaud, Sylvia McNair and Edita Gruberova, as well as the late Vlado Perlemuter and George Malcolm.

Highlights of Andrew’s career include many performances over the years with his father, Sir Neville Marriner, both as soloist and as a member of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Among his many traversals of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto are particularly memorable performances at the Musikverein in Vienna; at Teatro alla Scala, Milan, with Sir Colin Davis conducting; with Sir Neville conducting at Teatro la Fenice, Venice in 2009; and in concerts with Mstislav Rostropovich and Sir Antonio Pappano conducting.

Andrew has given the world premières of several works written for him by Sir John Tavener, Robin Holloway, Dominic Muldowney and Douglas Weiland. For Andrew, the LSO commissioned from Tavener The Repentant Thief for clarinet, percussion and strings. Andrew premiered the work with the LSO and recorded it in 1990 with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting, subsequently introducing it in New York. In 1997, he played the first performances of Holloway’s Clarinet Concerto, written to celebrate the 1400th anniversary of The King’s School, Canterbury, and Muldowney’s Clarinet Concerto at that year’s Oxford Contemporary Music Festival. In Australia, Andrew premiered Weiland’s new concerto with the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra.

In 1989, Andrew was featured in performances of Leonard Bernstein’s Prelude, Fugue and Riffs, with the composer conducting, in London, Paris and Berlin. For the Finzi centenary in 2001, he was soloist in the composer’s clarinet concerto in a commemorative concert at the Royal Festival Hall. Also of note were performances of Debussy’s Premiere Rhapsodie with the LSO at the Barbican, with Michael Tilson Thomas and Valery Gergiev, and the Duett-Concertino of Richard Strauss, with Gergiev and Okku Kamu.

In the chamber repertoire, notable performances include the Mozart and Brahms Clarinet Quintets with the Chilingirian,Quatuor Sine Nomine and The Lindsays, and Schubert’s Der Hirt auf dem Felsen all over the world, memorably with Sylvia McNair and Alfred Brendel at the Royal Festival Hall in 1999, and with Edita Gruberova at the Wigmore Hall in 2010.

In addition to numerous recordings with the LSO and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Andrew has recorded the core solo and chamber clarinet repertoire for various labels, including Philips, EMI, Chandos and Collins Classics. The BBC regularly broadcasts his concerto appearances. Latert recording projects included Ronald Corp’s Clarinet Quintet with the Maggini Quartet, and Howard Blake’s Clarinet Concerto with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields for Pentatone.

As a member of the LSO, Andrew’s playing can be heard on dozens of feature film and television soundtracks, including those for three Oscar-winning Best Pictures – Amadeus, Braveheart and The King’s Speech – as well as John Williams’s scores for the Star Wars and Harry Potter films.

Much in demand as a teacher and woodwind consultant, Andrew gives master classes, coaches orchestras, and adjudicates competitions all around the world. He is Professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the Royal Academy of Music; in 1996, he was awarded an Hon. Ram. Over the years, Andrew has taught at the Sydney Conservatory, Australian National Academy (Melbourne), Juilliard School, Hong Kong Academy and Accademia de la Musica (Rome), while also coaching players with the New World Symphony in Miami. He is a regular panelist for the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition, serves on the Advisory Committee of the Solti Foundation, and is a Trustee of the Hattori Foundation.

As Sir Neville Marriner’s son, Andrew quite literally grew up along with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, which for a time was headquartered in the family home. He was a chorister at King’s College, Cambridge, and sang on many of the choir’s signature recordings, including the celebrated version of the Allegri “Miserere” with Roy Goodman as solo treble. At the The King’s School, Canterbury, Andrew began serious study of the clarinet and, as a member of the National Youth Orchestra, had his first orchestral experience under such conductors as Pierre Boulez, with Lord Menuhin as soloist.

After a brief time as an undergraduate at Oxford, Andrew chose to focus on the clarinet, travelling to Germany to study with Hans Deinzer in Hannover. Returning to London, Andrew freelanced for a time, while playing chamber music with the Chilingirian and Endellion String Quartets and forming a wind quintet, the Albion Ensemble, with friends from his NYO days. His break came in 1983, when the LSO needed a guest principal for a five-week world tour, thus beginning his remarkable career with the orchestra.

Pre-covid, Andrew visited the west coast of America on three separate occasions: firstly, a teaching visit to Colburn school at the invitation of Yehuda Gilhad , where he also performed chamber music with their wonderful students; an April visit to perform the Mozart Concerto with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra plus a summer visit to coach at the Music Academy of the West, Santa Barbara. With the LSO he enjoyed tours to New York, Japan, Thailand, Korea and China in addition to extensive European tours. He represented the Buffet Crampon and D’Addario companies, playing chamber music at both the International and European Clarinet Congresses.

2019 was his last year with the London Symphony Orchestra after a 41 year association, 34 of which as Principal Clarinet. His international teaching and recital commitments have recently taken him to Spain, Italy, Australia, China And Hong Kong. He will continue his association as chamber music partner with Sir Simon Rattle and Magdalena Kozena in a further series of concerts throughout Europe in 2022.

Andrew Marriner is a Buffet Crampon Artist and a D'Addario Woodwinds Artist.