Born in 1919, Norman Del Mar was educated at Marlborough and the Royal College of Music. From his early successes as Sir Thomas Beecham’s assistant, he became a notable conductor of Mozart, Janácek, Strauss and Schoenberg, amongst others. He worked with a range of British orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, as well as with orchestras in Europe, Russia, the Middle and Far East, and South America. He was also a keen opera-lover and was invited, as guest conductor, to perform at The Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Sadler’s Wells, the Royal Stockholm Opera and Scottish Opera. He died in February 1994.