About John Lanchbery
John 'Jack' Arthur Lanchbery (15 May 1923 – 27 February 2003) was an English conductor and composer who was known for his ballet arrangements, and for his ballet adaptations of canonical works. He was the Principal Conductor of the Royal Ballet from 1959 to 1972, Principal Conductor of The Australian Ballet from 1972 to 1977, and Musical Director of the American Ballet Theatre from 1978 to 1980. He conducted for the Royal Ballet until 2001. Rudolf Nureyev said Lanchbery was "a conductor and music director of unmatched experience" who was "directly responsible for raising the status and the standards of musical performance". Maina Gielgud stated that he were "the finest conductor for dance of his generation and probably well beyond". One critic wrote that "the music was always on its best behaviour" when Lanchbery was conducting. == Early life == Lanchbery was born in London on 15 May 1923, and began violin lessons and music composition when he was eight years of age. He was educated at Alleyn's School, where he formed a lifetime friendship with the renowned chorister Peter Stanley Lyons, and with Kenneth Spring, who was the founder of the National Youth Theatre and whose composer mother encouraged Lanchbery's musical talent. He was also a friend of Tchaikovsky's grandniece and translator Galina von Meck (1891 - 1985). Lanchbery was in 1942 awarded the Henry Smart Composition Scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied under Sir Henry Wood until the Second World War, during which he served in the Royal Armoured Corps, after which he returned to the Royal Academy of Music to study for two more years before he returned to his alma mater Alleyn's School to teach music.
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