Trinity Laban awards honorary fellowships to Sir George Benjamin and Philip Fowke

Florence Lockheart
Monday, January 17, 2022

The fellowships were presented by Trinity Laban chair Alan Davey during the conservatoire’s recent graduation ceremonies

Sir George Benjamin (Left) and Philip Fowke (Right)

Trinity Laban has recognised the contributions to music made by composer and conductor Sir George Benjamin CBE and pianist Philip Fowke with the awarding of Honorary Fellowships, the conservatoire’s highest honour.

Born in January 1960, Sir George Benjamin began composing from the age of seven and had his first orchestral piece, Ringed by the Flat Horizon, featured in the BBC Proms when he was only 20 years old, making him the youngest living composer to have had their work performed at the Proms.

Sir George said: ‘To receive this award – within the spectacular setting of Trinity Laban – was both a huge pleasure and a great privilege.’

Sir George received the 2015 Prince Pierre of Monaco composition prize for his opera Written on Skin created in collaboration with playwright Martin Crimp, and the 2019 Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Venice Biennale. Sir George was awarded a CBE in 2010, made a Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2015, and was knighted in the 2017 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Born in June 1950, Philip Fowke studied at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) and made his London debut in 1974 at the Wigmore Hall. In the same year he also won joint second place at the BBC Piano Competition. Fowke made his Proms debut in 1979 with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Simon Rattle and his US debut in San Diego in 1982.

Fowke was a professor at the Royal Academy of Music from 1984 to 1989 and was awarded the Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Music. After teaching at the Welsh College of Music and Drama Fowke became Head of Keyboard at Trinity College of Music in 1994, and is currently Professor Emeritus at Trinity Laban.

Fowke said: ‘I was delighted to be awarded a Trinity Laban Honorary Fellowship. As Havilland read out an outline of my career, I did wonder who he was referring to. It all seemed rather unreal, and I felt it was talking about someone else.’

You can find out more about Trinity Laban here.