Sir Neville Marriner studied the violin at the Royal College of Music and then at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1949 he joined the Martin String Quartet, and formed the Jacobean Ensemble with Thurston Dart, and the Virtuoso String Trio. He played with most of the London orchestras which gave him the experience of various legendary conductors -among them Toscanini, Furtwängler, Cantelli and Karajan. While playing as a principal in the London Symphony Orchestra he founded in 1959 the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and from the concertmaster's seat as the director of this ensemble he gravitated towards conducting. Pierre Monteux became his mentor, and his first conducting appointment was with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra during the period 1969-1979. He then became Music Director of the Minnesota Orchestra until 1986, when he took the same post with the Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stuttgart. Although the majority of his opera and symphonic performances and recordings are with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, one of the most comprehensively recorded chamber orchestras in the world, he works consistently with the major orchestras throughout the world. Sir Neville Marriner has twice been honored for his services to music. In 1979 he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire and in 1985 he received a Knighthood. The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields and Sir Neville have recently received the Queen's Award for Export Achievement in recognition of their considerable successes in the field of international concert performance and recording. Sir Neville Marriner is the Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquestra de Cadaqués since 1992.