The Royal Philharmonic Society has awarded its 2024 RPS Gold Medal to British composer, conductor and pianist Thomas Adès.
Conductor Simon Rattle, himself a recipient of the RPS Gold Medal in 2000, presented the medal live onstage on 5 September, at the BBC Proms. The presentation followed the UK premiere of Adès’ new orchestral work Aquifer conducted by Rattle with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.
A presentation by Simon Rattle
On presenting the medal to Adès, Rattle said:
‘A little piece of history tonight… The Royal Philharmonic Society was formed in 1813 to look after and support classical music and classical musicians. It’s a charity open to everybody, including you. It has been at the centre of our musical life for all these years. In 1870 the organisation introduced the RPS Gold Medal. A few recipients: Brahms, Elgar, Henry Wood, Sibelius, Stravinsky, Boulez, Ligeti, Jessye Norman, Daniel Barenboim, Mitsuko Uchida. An extraordinary group of people.
‘And tonight there’s a new name in this august company: Thomas Adès. The words outrageously gifted might have been invented for Tom. Because not only is he a wonderful composer, but a staggering pianist and a magnificent and generous conductor. We wait for each new piece. We never know what it’s going to be, but it always seems to be effortlessly connected to the past. And it always is at the same time new and totally Tom. I suspect that’s the definition of a great composer.’
The history of the RPS Gold Medal
First presented in 1871, the RPS Gold Medal is awarded for outstanding musicianship to the finest musicians of any nationality. It bears the image of Beethoven, to celebrate the close relationship between the composer and the Society which commissioned his Ninth Symphony.
Recipients are chosen annually by the Board and Council of the RPS, and approved by RPS Members. Among prior recipients are Brahms, Elgar, Henry Wood, Sibelius, Stravinsky, Britten, Bernstein, Messiaen, Boulez, Ligeti, Kathleen Ferrier, and more recently Jessye Norman, Martha Argerich, Daniel Barenboim, Janet Baker, Peter Maxwell Davies, Mariss Jansons, Mitsuko Uchida, and John Williams.