Dame Emma Kirkby has been awarded Her Majesty’s Medal for Music for the year 2010 - an award funded by the Privy Purse and given to a musician who has had a major influence on the musical life of the nation.
Dame Emma will have a private audience with the Queen to receive the medal and is only the sixth person to have the honour bestowed upon her – the first being Sir Charles Mackerras.
Dame Emma said she was “very pleased and grateful” to receive the Award. She said: “I feel extremely lucky to have worked so many years with excellent colleagues, both singers and instrumentalists, in the revival of music from the richest eras of our national heritage; this is repertoire offering joy and fulfilment to players and listeners alike and I am happy to see so many younger artists now adding their own voices to the endeavour.”
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies – current Master of the Queen’s Music said: “I think it’s marvellous that the world of early music has been recognised in this year’s Queen’s Medal for Music, particularly that the award is going to Dame Emma Kirkby, who has done more than anybody to put this music in the centre of our musical consciousness.”
