The medal was presented on Thursday 5 September, live onstage at the BBC Proms, by conductor Sir Simon Rattle – himself a recipient of the RPS Gold Medal in 2000. The presentation was made following the UK premiere of Adès’ new orchestral work Aquifer conducted by Rattle with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.

First presented in 1871, the RPS Gold Medal is awarded for the most outstanding musicianship to the finest musicians of any nationality. It bears the image of Beethoven, to celebrate the close relationship between the composer and the Society which commissioned his Ninth Symphony. Recipients are chosen by the Board and Council of the RPS, their choice annually approved by RPS Members. Among prior recipients are Brahms, Elgar, Henry Wood, Sibelius, Stravinsky, Britten, Bernstein, Messiaen, Boulez, Ligeti, Kathleen Ferrier, and more recently Jessye Norman, Martha Argerich, Daniel Barenboim, Janet Baker, Mitsuko Uchida, and John Williams.

On presenting the medal to Thomas Adès, Simon Rattle said:

‘A little piece of history tonight: The Royal Philharmonic Society was formed in 1813 to look after and support classical music and classical musicians. It’s a charity open to everybody, including you. It has been at the centre of our musical life for all these years. In 1870 they introduced the RPS Gold Medal. A few recipients: Brahms, Elgar, Henry Wood, Sibelius, Stravinsky, Boulez, Ligeti, Jessye Norman, Daniel Barenboim, Mitsuko Uchida. An extraordinary group of people. And tonight there’s a new name in this august company: Thomas Adès. The words outrageously gifted might have been invented for Tom, because not only is he a wonderful composer, but a staggering pianist and a magnificent and generous conductor. We wait for each new piece, we never know what it’s going to be, but it always seems to be effortlessly connected to the past, and it always is at the same time new and totally Tom. I suspect that’s the definition of a great composer.’

RPS Chief Executive James Murphy commented:

‘What extraordinary voyages audiences have been taken on by Thomas’s music, opening new doors to our imagination. He has the gift of an alchemist, making old forms gleam anew, and this has brought accolades such as the prestigious Grawemeyer Award and the Leoš Janáček Award. His music fires the minds of a new generation of composers whom he devotedly programmes and champions. Equally radiant are his achievements as a pianist and conductor, and the treasured associations you have built with orchestras such as the Boston Symphony, The Hallé and Vienna Philharmonic, as well as The Met in New York, Aldeburgh Festival, and Paris Opera. Long may he keep enchanting us.’

You can listen to the concert in which the presentation featured on BBC Sounds until 12 October 2024. The presentation comes 21:54 minutes into the broadcast linked here.

Thomas Adès was born in London in 1971. His compositions include three operas: he conducted the premiere of the most recent, The Exterminating Angel, at the 2016 Salzburg Festival and subsequently at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, the Royal Opera House, and the Opéra Bastille, Paris. He conducted the premiere and revival of The Tempest at the Royal Opera House, and a new production at the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna Staatsoper, and La Scala, Milan. He led the world premiere of his full-evening ballet The Dante Project at Covent Garden, and the Opéra Garnier, Paris.

He frequently leads performances of his orchestral works Asyla (1997), Tevot (2007), Polaris (2010), Violin Concerto ‘Concentric Paths’(2005), In Seven Days for piano and orchestra (2008); Totentanz for mezzo-soprano, baritone, and orchestra (2013); and the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (2019). His compositions also include numerous celebrated chamber and solo works. 2023 saw Thomas conduct the Gewandhausorchester as part of his two-season residency appearing as a conductor, pianist and composer in various concert formats, and the start of a two-season residency with The Hallé, which sees him conducting orchestral concerts and curating a chamber programme.

Thomas has also created a succession of celebrated recent chamber works: 2021 basset clarinet quintet Alchymia (for Mark Simpson and Quatour Diotima), Forgotten Dances (2023, for Sean Shibe), Növények (2022) – a setting of seven Hungarian songs for mezzo Katalin Károlyi and piano sextet – and Wreath (for Franz Schubert), a string quintet for the Danish Quartet and Johannes Rostamo, which premiered in 2024.

Thomas has received the RPS Large-Scale Composition Award three times, for Asyla, Tevot, and The Tempest.

He has won numerous other awards, including the 2015 Léonie Sonning Music Prize, the Leoš Janáček Award, and the Grawemeyer Award (2000), of which he was the youngest ever recipient. In 2023 he was awarded the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge prize. He was awarded a CBE in the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours. He was Artistic Director of the Aldeburgh Festival from 1999 to 2008. He performs worldwide as a pianist, and coaches annually at the International Musicians Seminar, Prussia Cove.