The Academy of St Martin in the Fields (ASMF) is an English chamber orchestra, based in London. Sir Neville Marriner founded the ensemble as The Academy of St.-Martin-in-the-Fields in London as a small, conductorless string group. The original group numbered 11, all male. The ensemble's name comes from Trafalgar Square's St Martin-in-the-Fields church, where the orchestra gave its first concert on November 13, 1959. In 1988, the ASMF dropped the hyphens from its full name.