Honorary Membership was first granted to Carl Maria von Weber in 1826, and subsequently to an array of celebrated composers, conductors, performers, commentators, patrons, programmers, publishers and educationalists. Among its recipients are Mendelssohn, Berlioz, Liszt, Wagner, Brahms, Dvorak, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Richard Strauss, Ravel, Stravinsky, Sibelius, Copland, Menuhin, Boulez and more recently Dame Evelyn Glennie, Marin Alsop, Stephen Hough, Sir George Benjamin and Stephen Sondheim.

The presentation to Sir David Pountney (pictured above) was made at the outset of BBC Cardiff Singer of the World by RPS Chair John Gilhooly OBE on 14 June 2019. Pountney and Gilhooly are, respectively, the Chairs of the overall competition and the Song Prize at Cardiff. On presenting the honour, John Gilhooly delivered the following citation on behalf of the RPS:

‘Opera composers past and present forever rely on artists of great zeal and imagination to bring their work resoundingly to the stage. In this, there can be few as trusted and treasured as Sir David Pountney who, over forty years and counting, has directed an exceptional array of bold, beloved and essential productions. His tenures as Artistic Director of three great British companies – Scottish Opera, English National Opera and most recently Welsh National Opera – have been regarded as golden ages for each. His talents have been eagerly embraced by companies worldwide, including Bregenz where he was Intendant for over a decade, and Chicago where the acclaimed Ring Cycle he is masterfully forging comes to its epic conclusion next Spring. He has consistently championed the neglected and the new. He has translated librettos from countless languages and even written his own, most notably in a fruitful collaboration with Peter Maxwell Davies. If a director’s responsibility is to bring out the best in others, he has done this tirelessly, from the stars he has nurtured onstage to a new generation of composers, directors and creative forces behind-the-scenes whom he has granted opportunities, ensuring opera continues to thrive for years to come.’

The presentation to Alexander Goehr (pictured right) was made at a day of concerts celebrating his music alongside works by his student Martyn Harry at Oxford University on 8 June 2019. Presenting the honour, RPS Chief Executive James Murphy read the following citation on behalf of the RPS:

‘The music of Alexander Goehr shines with transparent brilliance. He founded the famed New Music Manchester Group in 1953 and later that decade joined the class of Olivier Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod alongside fellow students Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen.

Amid such titans, he forged a vital and invigorating voice all his own, constantly asking new questions of tonality and sonority, yet never turning its back on the past. Magically, the history of music from Monteverdi to Bach to Schoenberg gleams in mirrored fragments throughout his work. From the five operas to a diadem of finely-crafted chamber works (as we have heard today), in every atom of his music there is a ceaseless pursuit of drama, expressivity, and humility too. We are blessed that Alexander – or Sandy as he is affectionately known – has devoted many years to sharing his gifts with students in roles at Leeds, Yale Boston and for many years at Cambridge. Among the students who have benefitted his wisdom are Thomas Ades, Julian Anderson and George Benjamin. In his collected writings Finding the Key, he has also bestowed us one of the freshest, most enduring accounts of how a composer charts a path through changing times. The RPS recognises his remarkable work as composer, teacher and a true champion of new music.’

Earlier this year, the Royal Philharmonic Society presented Honorary Membership to composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim. Read the full story by clicking the link below: