Neil Mantle
Musical Director and Conductor
Neil Mantle began conducting at the age of fifteen when he formed his own Chamber Orchestra. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music and later at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama, where he won the conducting prize. Later he was awarded the second prize in the Leeds Conducting Competition in 1986: this led to engagements with all the Scottish Orchestras.
Neil holds conductorships of Edinburgh Bach Choir, Dundee Choral Union, Sargent Cancer Care Hospital Choirs and Scottish Sinfonia. The latter organisation he founded in 1970 and has conducted ever since.
He has a large repertoire of some 350 scores conducted at public concerts. Although he is at home in a wide range of schools and styles, he is especially regarded as an exponent of Elgar and Mahler.
Neil is an examiner to the Associated Board. In addition to his UK work, he has undertaken several foreign tours including Singapore in 2004. He is an elected member of the Royal Society of Musicians, and was awarded an honorary degree by the Royal Academy of Music in 1998.