The Full Score
A CBE for Benedetti, plus the BBC Proms in Japan
Nicola Benedetti’s commitment to championing classical music and making it accessible to all has been recognised with the award of a CBE in the New Year Honours List for 2019. The Ayrshire-born violinist, 31, received the honour at the end of a year in which, alongside continuing her career as a concert soloist around the world, she also spearheaded the drive to improve musical education both in her Scottish homeland and beyond.
As well as taking over as president of the European String Teachers Association in 2018, Benedetti has involved herself in organisations such as Sistema Scotland, the National Children’s Orchestra and the Music in Secondary Schools Trust, leading workshops and masterclasses, visiting schools and acting as a spokesperson. Her CBE follows the MBE and Queen’s Medal for Music that the former BBC Young Musician winner was awarded in 2013 and 2016 respectively.
‘I am more resolved than ever to reinforce my advocacy for arts and culture, and to challenge what it means to teach music well,’ said Benedetti on receiving news of the honour. ‘We o en hear about the unintended benefits of studying music. We are also told that an education inclusive of the arts develops character. But let’s also consider the simple and profound beauty of just seeing and hearing people playing and singing together, and o ering something personal to an audience full of strangers. It is a truly beautiful, wondrous thing, worthy of our attention and our investment.’
That is a sentiment that would doubtless be shared by composer Nitin Sawhney, who, like Benedetti has been made a CBE. Sawhney’s fellow composer Shirley Thompson has received an OBE, meanwhile, as has jazz saxophonist Tommy Smith – both are also widely involved in education. MBES, meanwhile, go to pianist Christian Blackshaw and two major figures from the British choral scene, Stephen Darlington and David Hill. Darlington’s honour crowns his retirement a er 33 years as organist (choirmaster) at Christ Church, Oxford, while Hill’s CV includes posts at Westminster and Winchester cathedrals, St John’s College, Cambridge and the BBC Singers.
Staying in the choral world, the New Year Honours also brought a knighthood for former St Paul’s Cathedral chorister Alastair Cook – not, however, for singing, but for his record-breaking career as an England test cricketer.