• “The reasons for Britten Sinfonia’s incremental rise in the past 20 years are various, but among them are a commitment to interesting programmes and the assiduous building of relationships”

  Financial Times

• “The playing was marked by the kind of luminous and infectious beauty that only comes from a true marriage of mastery and love”

  The Guardian

• “The UK’s most consistently dynamic chamber ensemble”

  The New Statesman

• “I haven’t heard a chamber orchestra performing with such extrovert character and unflagging energy for years.”

  The Times

• “But as always with this orchestra there was more to savour than just stellar perfomance. The programme was ingeniously shaped.”

  The Daily Telegraph, Ivan Hewett

RPS award for Trustee

Britten Sinfonia board member John Stephens OBE has been made an Honorary Member of the Royal Philharmonic Society in recognition of his outstanding services to music education. A rare honour, the award has only been presented 130 times since the first honorary membership was made to Carl Maria von Weber in 1826.

John Stephens has been a pioneering figure in British music education for many decades. As Staff Inspector for Music at the ILEA, from 1986 until 1989, he oversaw the development of the London Schools Symphony Orchestra to great artistic heights and also instigated many innovative educational initiatives in London schools, including the first schools educational projects of the Royal Opera House and the London Sinfonietta.

He also chaired the National Curriculum Working Group for Music in the 1990s and has been a music advisor to the Royal Opera House, Wigmore Hall, London Symphony Orchestra, Trinity College of Music, Youth Music and many other organisations. He received the OBE for services to music education.

Commenting on the award of RPS Honorary Membership to John Stephens, Rosemary Johnson, RPS Executive Director said:
“The Royal Philharmonic Society is delighted to present Honorary Membership to John Stephens. John has been a valued member of the RPS community, both serving on and chairing the Education (now the Learning and Participation) Jury of the RPS Music Awards. He brings to everything he does experience, astuteness, an incisive and clear mind, a respect for colleagues and, above all, a belief in the creative abilities of young people and in the power of music to enhance their lives.”

On receiving the award, John Stephens commented:
“There is a great reservoir of latent musical talent in our schools, conservatoires and universities and I have been privileged to see that develop over the last sixty years. That talent flourishes when music educators and professional musicians come together to support, nurture and inspire - but most of all to make music together. Musical talent is not prescribed by parental income or post- code; it is not confined by either gender or ethnic background; it is not restricted by musical genre or idiom. Quite straightforwardly, it is at the heart of every civilised community. Politicians and parents; teachers and musicians must all ensure that young people have the opportunity to develop their talent.”

John Stephens will be presented with RPS Honorary Membership at the LSO Discovery Celebration Concert on Thursday 28 June at the Barbican.
 

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