John Gilhooly, Mark Pemberton, Berendina Jill Norton and Mark Strachan were among an impressive array of choral and orchestral figures to feature in this year’s UK New Year’s Honours list.
Gilhooly, who became the youngest director of any of the world’s leading concert halls when he became artistic and executive director of Wigmore Hall, London at the age of 32 has received a CBE for his services to music.
Charles Alexander, the chair of Opera Rara, specialists in reviving rare operatic works, received a CBE for voluntary and charitable services to the arts, culture and health along with Norman Murray, former chair of Scottish Ballet.
Alpesh Chauhan has received an OBE for his services to the arts as music director of Birmingham Opera Company, as has Mark Pemberton, director of the Association of British Orchestras, and Steven Osborne, the pianist. Further OBEs were awarded to Pauline Black, former lead singer with The Selecter, for her services to entertainment, and to Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante, recording artist and producer, co-founder of Boy Blue, the pioneering hip-hop music and dance collective.
Andrew Carwood, who founded The Cardinall’s Musick and is director of music at St Paul’s Cathedral, has received an MBE for services to choral music. Other MBE recipients are Peter Broadbent, director and conductor of the Joyful Company of Singers, Berendina Jill Norton, professor of music at the Royal Military School of Music, Emma Reading, professor of performance science and head of dance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, and Marguerita Taylor, the Classic FM broadcaster.
Taylor’s colleague, veteran broadcaster Moira Stuart, adds a CBE to her 2001 OBE. Mark Strachan, founder of the lockdown-inspired Choir of the Earth, was awarded a British Empire Medal.
Photo: Alpesh Chauhan © Patrick Allen | Opera Omnia
