Vladimir Jurowski Appointed KBE

Wed 28 Feb, 2024

Conductor Vladimir Jurowski has been appointed as an Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE). This honour is conferred by His Majesty King Charles III on the advice of the British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, in recognition of his services to music and the arts.

One of today’s most sought-after conductors, acclaimed worldwide for his incisive musicianship and adventurous artistic commitment, Vladimir Jurowski was born in Moscow in 1972, and completed the first part of his musical studies at the Music College of the Moscow Conservatory. In 1990 he relocated with his family to Germany, continuing his studies at the Musikhochschule of Dresden and Berlin.

Jurowski has been General Music Director of Munich’s Bayerische Staatsoper since 2021, and Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin since 2017, but has deep musical roots in the United Kingdom since his debut conducting at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in 1996. In 2021 he stepped down from his highly-acclaimed fifteen-year tenure as Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, to become their Conductor Emeritus. In addition, he held the positions of Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera (2001-2013), leading a wide range of hugely-acclaimed productions, and is a Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

First bestowed by King George V in 1917, the honorary knighthood is given to recipients who have made important contributions to their field within the United Kingdom but are not citizens of a Commonwealth realm. The title has also been awarded in the past to many musical luminaries including Bernard Haitink, Yehudi Menuhin, Daniel Barenboim, Murray Perahia, Andre Previn, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Georg Solti. As a citizen of Germany, Vladimir Jurowski will have the insignia of the award presented to him in due course by The King’s representative in Germany, Ambassador Jill Gallard CMG CVO.

Jurowski returns to London in April to conduct the final part of his journey through Wagner’s epic ‘Der Ring des Nibelungen’ with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Götterdämmerung was scheduled originally for 2020, but the pandemic forced its cancellation, and the concert will finally take place on 27 April at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London, where the Orchestra is Resident. More information and tickets are available here.

Photo Credit: P Meisel