Stephen hough knighted in queen’s birthday honours pianist’s exceptional career on the stage and in the studio enjoys its due recognition

Whether sharing his thoughts on elegant hats, fine perfumes or puddings from around the world, Stephen Hough is always engaging and informed company. As a novelist and columnist he has also enthralled many with the written word, while his compositions are increasingly becoming a feature in concert halls large and small. It is, however, his prodigious talent and dedication as a pianist that has led to him being awarded a knighthood in the recent Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

In being made a Sir, Hough follows in the footsteps of Clifford Curzon in 1977, the last time a British pianist received the honour (though the likes of Mitsuko Uchida and Imogen Cooper have been awarded Damehoods in the interim). Following the announcement, he said that he was ‘absolutely delighted by this honour, and particularly by its implied acknowledgment that classical music is something of continuing relevance and importance in British cultural life’ while also declaring himself ‘very touched’ by people’s reactions on Twitter.

Born on the Wirral, Hough first tasted success as a pianist when, aged 16, he was a finalist in the inaugural BBC Young Musician of the Year competition in 1978. Since then, he has gone on to enjoy a prestigious career across the globe and has recorded prodigiously, in music ranging from Mozart and Beethoven to contemporary repertoire including his own compositions. When Wigmore Hall staged its first concerts during the pandemic – to an empty auditorium but broadcast live on Radio 3 – it was Hough who was chosen to set the ball rolling with a recital of Bach (arr. Busoni) and Schumann. ‘I’ve always liked playing music of different styles,’ he told BBC Music Magazine when interviewed on the occasion of his 60th birthday last November. ‘I love the fact that I can play a transcription of Richard Rodgers or a Schubert sonata in a recital. I don’t see why we have to choose.’

Having previously been awarded the CBE, Sir Stephen will be making a return visit to Buckingham Palace when he collects his knighthood. Also treading that same increasingly familiar path will be Chi-chi Nwanoku. The inspirational double bassist and founder of the Chineke! Foundation, who was awarded an MBE in 2001 and an OBE in 2017, leads the list of this year’s other musical honourees,