Neville Dilkes

Neville Dilkes (28 August 1930 – 10 May 2025) was an English conductor and organist. He is particularly remembered for his pioneering recordings of British music with the English Sinfonia and other orchestras, including his HMV recording of E.J. Moeran’s Symphony in G minor in 1973.

Life and career Dilkes was born in Derby, England on 28 August 1930, to a musical family. He became a Fellow of Trinity College of Music, London, and later did his National Service in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He taught at Repton, and then in 1955 was named Director of Music at Corby Grammar School, where he mounted a school production of Gluck's opera Orfeo ed Euridice. This brought together a number of musicians from the Midlands, who formed the Kettering Symphony Orchestra under Dilkes' leadership.

In 1961, he formed the Midland Sinfonia and also a chamber music performance group, Opera Da Camera. The Midland Sinfonia was administered from Dilkes' home for its first five years; it acquired a permanent office in Nottingham in 1966, and gave its first London concert in 1968.

Recordings Dilkes’ recordings include: Malcolm Arnold, Sinfonietta No. 1, Op. 48; Sinfonietta No. 2, Op. 65 (Philharmonia Orchestra, 1977) George Butterworth, The Banks of Green Willow, A Shropshire Lad Peter Warlock, Capriol Suite