Leonard Ingrams
Encyclopedia
Leonard Victor Ingrams was a merchant banker and opera
festival founder/impresario
.
Leonard Ingrams was the youngest of four sons. His parents were Leonard St Clair Ingrams and Victoria (née Reid). His mother was very musical and he started to learn the violin at the age of six. Later he played in the National Youth Orchestra
under Sir Malcolm Sargent
. He was educated at Stonyhurst College
, where he was inspired by Peter Levi
, and at Corpus Christi College, Oxford
. He gained a double first in Classical Moderations and Greats. Subsequently he taught classics
at Queen Mary College, University of London
from 1965 to 1967.
In 1967 Leonard Ingrams joined Baring Brothers, a long-established merchant bank
, where he was an international financier. After postings to Paris, Cologne and Hamburg, he was sent in 1972 to Saudi Arabia to head the Barings' team at the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (S.A.M.A). At S.A.M.A. he was dubbed 'the greatest advisor'. He subsequently left Barings after about ten years, and he was appointed a director at Flemings Bank. He subsequently set up his own investment consultancy, L.V.Ingrams & Co.
In 1982, Ingrams bought Garsington Manor
on the edge of the village of Garsington
east of Oxford
, England
. He has later become well-known for founding Garsington Opera
in 1989, an annual season of opera in the manor gardens, designed by Lady Ottoline Morrell during the First World War. Under his musical directorship the opera company became known for world class productions. Ingrams would travel extensively to seek out singers for particular roles, and under his leadership the Garsington Opera orchestra was established, with its core from the Guildhall Strings.
Ingrams married Rosalind Moore in 1964. He died after a heart attack
at the age of 63 in 2005, while driving home from a performance of Verdi
's Otello
at Glyndebourne
. They have a son and three daughters. Ingrams also has a surviving elder brother, Richard Ingrams
, one of the founders of the satirical magazine Private Eye
.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
festival founder/impresario
Impresario
An impresario is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays or operas; analogous to a film producer in filmmaking, television production and an angel investor in business...
.
Leonard Ingrams was the youngest of four sons. His parents were Leonard St Clair Ingrams and Victoria (née Reid). His mother was very musical and he started to learn the violin at the age of six. Later he played in the National Youth Orchestra
National Youth Orchestra
The National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain is an orchestra of 163 young musicians from the United Kingdom. The members of the orchestra are all aged between 13 and 19 years. The players are selected by auditions which take place in the autumn each year at various locations in the country...
under Sir Malcolm Sargent
Malcolm Sargent
Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works...
. He was educated at Stonyhurst College
Stonyhurst College
Stonyhurst College is a Roman Catholic independent school, adhering to the Jesuit tradition. It is located on the Stonyhurst Estate near the village of Hurst Green in the Ribble Valley area of Lancashire, England, and occupies a Grade I listed building...
, where he was inspired by Peter Levi
Peter Levi
Peter Chad Tigar Levi, FSA, FRSL, , Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford was a poet, archaeologist, sometime Jesuit priest, travel writer, biographer, academic and prolific reviewer and critic.-Early life and education:Levi was born in Ruislip, Middlesex of parents with Mediterranean...
, and at Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom...
. He gained a double first in Classical Moderations and Greats. Subsequently he taught classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
at Queen Mary College, University of London
Queen Mary, University of London
Queen Mary, University of London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
from 1965 to 1967.
In 1967 Leonard Ingrams joined Baring Brothers, a long-established merchant bank
Merchant bank
A merchant bank is a financial institution which provides capital to companies in the form of share ownership instead of loans. A merchant bank also provides advisory on corporate matters to the firms they lend to....
, where he was an international financier. After postings to Paris, Cologne and Hamburg, he was sent in 1972 to Saudi Arabia to head the Barings' team at the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (S.A.M.A). At S.A.M.A. he was dubbed 'the greatest advisor'. He subsequently left Barings after about ten years, and he was appointed a director at Flemings Bank. He subsequently set up his own investment consultancy, L.V.Ingrams & Co.
In 1982, Ingrams bought Garsington Manor
Garsington Manor
Garsington Manor, in the village of Garsington, near Oxford, England, is a Tudor building, best known as the former home of Lady Ottoline Morrell, the Bloomsbury Group socialite...
on the edge of the village of Garsington
Garsington
Garsington is a village and civil parish about southeast of Oxford in Oxfordshire.-Notable Garsington buildings:The earliest part of the Church of England parish church of Saint Mary is the Norman tower, built towards the end of the 12th century. The Gothic Revival architect Joseph Clarke restored...
east of Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. He has later become well-known for founding Garsington Opera
Garsington Opera
Garsington Opera is an annual open air summer opera festival founded in 1989 by Leonard Ingrams. For twenty one years it was held in the gardens of Leonard Ingrams' home at Garsington Manor in Oxfordshire. Since 2011 the festival is now held in Wormsley Park, the home of the Getty family near High...
in 1989, an annual season of opera in the manor gardens, designed by Lady Ottoline Morrell during the First World War. Under his musical directorship the opera company became known for world class productions. Ingrams would travel extensively to seek out singers for particular roles, and under his leadership the Garsington Opera orchestra was established, with its core from the Guildhall Strings.
Ingrams married Rosalind Moore in 1964. He died after a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
at the age of 63 in 2005, while driving home from a performance of Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's Otello
Otello
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887....
at Glyndebourne
Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an English opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England.-History:...
. They have a son and three daughters. Ingrams also has a surviving elder brother, Richard Ingrams
Richard Ingrams
Richard Ingrams is an English journalist, a co-founder and second editor of the British satirical magazine Private Eye, and now editor of The Oldie magazine.-Career:...
, one of the founders of the satirical magazine Private Eye
Private Eye
Private Eye is a fortnightly British satirical and current affairs magazine, edited by Ian Hislop.Since its first publication in 1961, Private Eye has been a prominent critic and lampooner of public figures and entities that it deemed guilty of any of the sins of incompetence, inefficiency,...
.
External links
- Obituary in The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, 4 August 2005 - Opera News announcement of his death
- Garsington Opera website
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1495450/Leonard-Ingrams.html