Royal Academy of Music announces 2020 honours

Academy honours recognise notable alumni, along with leaders in classical music, jazz, musical theatre and education.

Those receiving Honorary Membership of the Royal Academy of Music (Hon RAM) on 8 July include Grawemeyer Award-winning composer and violist Brett Dean, prolific television and film composer Carl Davis, and chart-topping sitarist and composer Anoushka Shankar. Collecting Honorary Fellowships of the Royal Academy of Music (Hon FRAM) this summer will be Gillian Moore, educationalist, writer and Director of Music at the Southbank Centre, and Tim Parker, Chairman of the National Trust and member of the Academy’s Governing Body.

At the musical theatre graduation ceremony on 9 July, stars of stage and screen Michael Ball and Matt Lucas will be awarded Hon RAMs. Michael Ball has enjoyed a long career as a singer and broadcaster, first appearing on the original cast recording of record-breaking musical sensation Les Misérables. Comedian, writer and singer Matt Lucas worked with Academy students in 2018, performing in a gala performance of songs by Claude-Michel Schönberg with the Musical Theatre Company in the newly-opened Susie Sainsbury Theatre.

Hon RAMs will also be awarded to members of the Academy’s faculty - cellist Adrian Brendel, violinist Maureen Smith and flautist Karen Jones. Hon FRAM awards will go to Julian West, Head of Open Academy, and the Head of Special Events and Executive Assistant to the Principal Kate McKiernan.

Jazz Artist in Residence Dave Holland will be conferred as an Honorary Doctor of the University of London in recognition of his fifty-year career as double bassist and his commitment to jazz pedagogy.

Distinguished members of the music community who studied at the Academy receiving Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Music (FRAM) will include Eleanor Alberga, contemporary composer and pianist, Graham Mitchell, orchestral double bass player and Academy Senior Professor, and Christopher Glynn, an acclaimed pianist and accompanist. Singers receiving FRAM awards will be the tenor Robin Tritschler and baritone Leigh Melrose. Further alumni will be recognised as Associates (ARAM) with the Academy also awarding a selection of honorary ARAMs.

A full list of those receiving Academy Honours are listed below.