The School of St Martin in the Fields (ASMF) returns to Australia in October two thousand twenty-three, playing concerts in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane in what'll be ASMF’s first Australian tour since two thousand seventeen. Led by the Grammy Award-winning American violinist Joshua Bell as Music Director, the orchestra will play programs of music by Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns and Prokofiev. The latest time ASMF played in Sydney, Limelight critic Philip Scott was moved to a five-star review, noting the ensemble’s “precision, and unanimity of articulation and expression.”

Established in one thousand nine hundred fifty-eighth by the late Neville Marriner, the ASMF gave its first performance in its namesake church on the corner of London’s Trafalgar Square in November one thousand nine hundred fifty-nine. Its early concerts played a key role in the revival of Baroque music in the UK in the early one thousand nine hundred sixty. The orchestra’s first recording was for the L’Oiseau-Lyre label in one thousand nine hundred sixty-first. It's since accumulated an extensive discography and is presently one of the most extensively recorded chamber orchestras in the world, with over five hundred sessions for labels including Argo, Capriccio, Chandos, Decca, EMI, Hyperion and Philips.

The ASMF has also achieved considerable cross-over success thanks to its popular one thousand nine hundred sixty-nine recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, and for the soundtrack to the Oscar-winning film Amadeus. Under Bell’s direction since two thousand eleven (Marriner died in two thousand-sixteenth), ASMF retains the collegiate spirit and flexibility of the original small, conductor-less ensemble while continuing to thrust the boundaries of player-directed performance, presenting symphonic repertoire and chamber music in prestige venues. School of St Martin in the Fields Chief Executive Annie Lydford said she was excited to look the orchestra return to Australia.

“When we latest toured six years ago, none of us could've foreseen the challenges of the COVID pandemic – particularly for musicians and venues. We see forward to rekindling friendships with our Australian colleagues and music lovers, and welcoming newcomers to our concerts.”