Leonard Ingrams
Leonard Ingrams | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1 September 1941 |
| Died | 27 July 2005 (aged 63) |
| Occupation(s) | Financier, Opera festival founder, Classics lecturer |
| Known for | Founder of Garsington Opera festival |
Leonard Victor Ingrams, OBE (1 September 1941 – 27 July 2005), was a financier renowned for establishing the Garsington Opera festival.
Early life
The youngest among four brothers, Leonard Ingrams was the son of Leonard St Clair Ingrams, an officer in the Secret Service during World War II, and Victoria (née Reid). Demonstrating musical talent from an early age, he started violin lessons at six and performed with the National Youth Orchestra under the direction of Sir Malcolm Sargent. His education included time at Stonyhurst College followed by Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he achieved a double first in Classical Moderations and Greats. Between 1965 and 1967, he served as a classics lecturer at Queen Mary College, University of London.
Career
Beginning his career in finance in 1967, Ingrams joined Barings and worked internationally with assignments in Paris, Cologne, Hamburg, and Saudi Arabia. After spending five years in Jeddah, he briefly pursued viola studies in Siena under Bruno Giuranna before returning to Riyadh to take on the role of Supreme Financial Advisor to the Saudi government. In 1984, he was appointed director at Flemings in England, a position he held for approximately ten years prior to relocating to Bahrain from 1995 to 1999. Subsequently, he launched his own investment advisory firm, L.V. Ingrams & Co.
In 1982, Leonard and his wife relocated to Garsington Manor near Oxford. Seven years later, he inaugurated the annual Garsington Opera festival hosted within the manor’s gardens. Under his artistic direction, the festival earned international recognition for its exceptional opera productions. He personally sourced leading vocalists and formed the opera orchestra by integrating principal players from the Guildhall Strings.
Personal life and death
Ingrams married Rosalind Moore in 1964; she had also studied classics at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford and was completing a Masters thesis on Peter Paul Rubens supervised by Edgar Wind. Leonard Ingrams passed away suddenly from a heart attack at age 63 in 2005. The couple had four children: one son and three daughters. His elder brother is Richard Ingrams, co-founder of the satirical publication Private Eye.