New Year Honours for Academy musicians

Anna Lapwood completed Junior Academy in 2013. She is now an associate artist of the Royal Albert Hall and holds the position of Director of Music at Pembroke College. She was awarded an Associateship of the Royal Academy of Music and the prestigious Gamechanger Award from the Royal Philharmonic Society in 2023.

Anna is heard playing recitals in concert halls and churches across Europe and the United States; she will make her debut appearance at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles in 2024. Anna also reaches a large online audience with over 1 million social media followers. She was the first woman in Magdalen College Oxford’s 560-year history to be awarded the Organ Scholarship and became Ambassador of the Cathedral Music Trust in 2022. Anna runs the annual Cambridge Organ Experience for Girls and in 2022, curated and edited ‘Gregoriana’ for Stainer & Bell, an anthology of 12 new organ pieces by female composers which was awarded Presto Music’s Publication of the Year.

Laurence Cummings is one of Britain's most exciting and versatile exponents of historical performance both as a conductor and a harpsichord player. He is currently Music Director of the Academy of Ancient Music, Musical Director of the London Handel Festival and Music Director of Orquestra Barroca Casa da Música in Porto. He was Artistic Director of the Internationale Händel-Festpiele Göttingen from 2011 - 2021. Until 2012, he was Head of Historical Performance at the Royal Academy of Music which led to both baroque and classical orchestras forming part of the established curriculum. He is now the William Crotch Professor of Historical Performance.

Academy alumni were well represented in this year’s honours list with Margaret Archibald BEM (clarinet, 1972) and Martin White BEM (organ, 1965) being presented with honours.

The Academy was also very pleased to see musicians from our wider community being celebrated this year. Composer Judith Weir CBE, who was presented honorary membership of the Academy (Hon RAM) in 1997, has been awarded Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) and former Director of Junior Academy and Hon RAM, Jonathan Willcocks, was awarded a BEM.

The Academy’s students, staff and Governing Body offer their warmest congratulations to everyone.