Trivia

He was awarded the C.B.E. (Commander of the British Empire) in 1990.

He was knighted in 1997 for his services to music.

In his spare time he sang as a tenor in a couple of choirs, played in an orchestra, in quartets and conducting.

His father, Sir Arthur Norrington, was vice-chancellor of Oxford and the originator of the Norrington league table, which ranks Oxford colleges.

He worked as a guest conductor with orchestras around Europe and America. He conducted at Covent Garden and the English National Opera, in Italy at La Scala, La Fenice and the Maggio Musicale.

After graduation he took a job at Oxford University Press, where he published religious books.

After being evacuated to Canada during the war, he returned home to Oxford aged 10. He was sent to the Dragon School, where he auditioned for the chorus in "Iolanthe" and was given the lead.

His mother was a pianist.

Attended Westminster School, and after National Service as an RAF fighter controller in Bournemouth, he read English at Clare College, Cambridge.

Norrington is best known for historically informed performances of baroque, classical, and romantic music, which often entailed minimal use of vibrato, and his development of mixing historically informed principles with modern orchestras known as the "Stuttgart Sound".