Life After Chase: Martin Fraenkel

London Alumnus Serving Musical and Other Causes,
As Chair of Academy of St Martin in the Fields
 

Forget that Chase alumnus Martin Fraenkel graduated with a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Balliol College, Oxford, a Masters in International Affairs from The Johns Hopkins University and an MBA from INSEAD. In July 2024, he proudly received a diploma in violin performance – with Merit – from the Association of the Royal Schools of Music. 
 
He was concertmaster of his school orchestra of the William Ellis School, London, a free local school with a strong musical bent. He recalls with a smile that back then, a younger violinist two years his junior had looked up to him. Now, he notes, that younger man has a seat in the renowned chamber ensemble Academy of St Martin in the Fields (ASMF), while, for the last four years, Fraenkel is "merely" chair of its Board.
 
The Academy was founded (and named) in 1958 by Sir Neville Marriner, who was looking for a unique name to evoke a unique gathering of individuals. The ensemble is known throughout the world, due to its prolific recording legacy and frequent tours.
 
While the namesake church overlooking Trafalgar Square is the Academy's historic home and the ensemble performs there regularly, it is an independent entity. Fraenkel noted that while the church's wet acoustics can be challenging, it provides a breathtaking immediacy and intimacy that makes up for it with certain repertory. The group often performs in venues that aren't necessarily concert halls but still congenial to music making, allowing them to find new audiences and create different musical experiences. 
 
Joshua Bell, the American violin virtuoso, succeeded Mariner as music director in May 2011. The Academy is famously a player-led, "conductorless" chamber ensemble. If there is no soloist – or the soloist is other than himself – Bell will conduct from the concertmaster's chair. If he is the soloist, he conducts from the soloist's position. If he is absent, the ensemble is led by the ASMF'S Director/Leader Tomo Keller. 
 
The Academy now has a global footprint – coincidentally quite similar to that of the Chase Alumni Association.
 
Fraenkel's Career and Volunteerism
 
Fraenkel worked at Chase from 1993 to 2001, serving as Global Head of Energy and Base Metals Trading. Head of Commodities for Europe, Africa and the Middle East and ultimately a Managing Director.
 
He subsequently chaired the Board of London Gold Market Limited, which set the leading global benchmark for gold prices, was a Board member and Director, Head of Commodities for NM Rothschild and Sons Ltd., a Managing Director and Global Head of Commodities for Dresdner Kleinwort and Crédit Agricole CIB, and held other prestigious positions in energy and commodities, for the CME Group, S&P Global Platts and others. He is currently a Crown Representative in the Cabinet Office and an Independent Non-Director for the London Bullion Market Association, and chairs the boards of VAKT Global Ltd and Pexapark AG.
 
He has always complemented his business career with service to charities. Before answering an advertisement from Nurole Ltd., a search firm looking for additions to the Academy board, Fraenkel was a trustee and Board chair of The Wiener Holocaust Library in London for over more than 19 years.
 
"Both my parents were refugees from Nazi Germany and came to the UK as children. The Wiener Holocaust Library is one of the oldest collections of documentation and books about this period, having originally been started by Alfred Wiener in the 1930s in Germany.  As the generation who experienced this period first hand disappears, it becomes ever more important that we study and document the past," Fraenkel said. He was also a trustee of the Royal Institute of International Affairs,  Chatham House.
 
Involvement with the Academy, though, has brought him back to his musical roots. "Having played a lot when I was young, I do have a different take," he said, noting that the player-members of the Board appreciate "someone from business who is interested in music and can relate to their issues."
 
"My mum played the violin when she was young, and I started on her old violin. My daughters also started learning on my mother's old violin! I played in the Oxford University Orchestra for a while, and was a member of a string quartet. When I studied for a Masters at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Bologna, Italy, i joined the Camerata Filarmonica dell'Universita di Bologna," he said. (He has been a member of the Advisory Board for the Johns Hopkins AIS Bologna program for more than 35 years.)
 
"I never considered becoming a professional musician. I was fortunate to play in the London Schools Symphony Orchestra, and I could see that there were many people more talented than me, and I was also interested in other things at school.  One of the members of the Academy said to me that you can only become a professional musician if you can not imagine doing anything else – and I never had that sort of dedication."
 
As a young teen, Fraenkel got to play at Carnegie Hall with the London Schools group, enabling him to kid Joshual Bell that he was even younger than the maestro when he debuted at Carnegie. Bell, Fraenkel said, kindly reminded him that his Carnegie debut at the age of 17 was as a soloist with the St. Louis Symphony.
 
Fraenkel -- and the Academy musicians, no doubt -- got a kick out of his winning a chance in a silent auction to play in an ASMF rehearsal of Haydn's Symphony No. 25 – something not many orchestra board chairs can do. (See the photo)
 
Fraenkel notes that the UK non-profit board model is different that of the U.S. model. "The governance side of things is more heavily emphasized here than in the United States, where it’s more about fundraising. While at one time board members didn't even have to commit any money, we do now expect board members to give something, but we're really looking for different skillsets to support the executive team." 
 
The Academy has also globalized the group of trustees under Fraenkel, adding a U.S. board and an International Advisory Board. "Our global footprint is unique for a chamber orchestra," Fraenkel said.
 
"Way over half the Academy's turnover now comes from the United States – and it's not just the Joshua Bell effect," said Fraenkel. Last year's U.S. tour included a two-week residency at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and coast-to-coast concerts in major halls as well as small cities you might not expect, such as Manhattan, Kansas, and Wausau, WIsconsin. 
 
"As you might imagine, some of those arrangements are extremely budget conscious and will require a combination of planes, train and automobiles, including one occasion our jumping on the back of a pickup truck!", said Chris Martin, ASMF's Director of Development and External Affairs. "It is often the case that ASMF invests in these projects to make them work – because the ‘footprint’ and opportunities for our players are worth it."  
 
Fraenkel also spoke of the Academy's social purpose efforts, for example working with homeless people around the actual Church of St Martin in the Fields, as well as various types of educational and social outreach when the ensemble tours around the world.
 
Almost concurrent with his four years of chairing the Academy, Fraenkel has  been a trustee of the Camden Music Trust (CMT), which provides bursaries for music lessons and instruments to underpriviliged children in his area of London, the London Borough of Camden. 
 
"Parts of Camden are amongst the most deprived in UK. I am a believer that the joys of music should be available to as many people as possible and that education should be varied," he said.
 
 
 
 

  BUY TICKETS:
  Academy of St Martin in the Fields
  Concert & Reception at Carnegie 

 
 
Carnegie Hall, NYC
Thursday, March 5, 2026, at 8 pm
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
Joshua Bell, Violin and Leader
 
IVES Variations on "America" (arr. Iain Farrington)
R. SCHUMANN Symphony No. 1, "Spring"
BRAHMS Violin Concerto
 
TICKETS WILL GO ON SALE AT 2 PM (EASTERN) ON WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2025. A LINK WILL BE PROVIDED THEN.
NOTE: We only have 20 tickets.
 
You must be a dues-paying Chase Alumni member to buy a ticket, and you may bring one guest. Be sure to log in first so that the store platform recognizes you as a member. Tickets are $95. (The face value is $97, but you are saving $11 in fees, and you and your guest will also be admitted to a post-concert reception in the Rohatyn Room, located just off the First Tier of Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium. You will have the opportunity to mingle with musicians and supporters of the Academy.)
 
Our seats are in the front right Parterre, a bit to the far side. (Selection was very limited, as the concert was part of a popular subscription series.)
 
 
ATTENTION ALUMNI ELSEWHERE
 
 
 
For other UK concerts, click here.
 
 
Concerts not yet posted on the website include March 23-24 in Hong Kong, a European festival tour in July and Asian tour in October.
 
To learn more, visit www.asmf.org