New Year honours list: big names of classical music recognised

30 December 2014, 22:30 | Updated: 30 December 2014, 22:47

Classical music luminaries have been recognised for their contribution to the arts. Classic FM spoke to Jude Kelly, one of those honoured.

Opera director Richard Jones has been made a CBE in the 2015 New Year Honours list. Among Jones's many credits is the Royal Opera House's recent production of the opera Anna Nicole.

Jude Kelly, artistic director of the Southbank Centre, is also among those recognised with a CBE for services to the arts. Already an OBE, Kelly told Classic FM's Charlotte Green her CBE was a "wonderful thing" and she felt "very honoured". 

Asked why there weren't more women in top jobs in the arts, Kelly told Green: "Women can be self-conscious. You're auditioning twice: you're auditioning for the job and you're auditioning as a woman for the job. If there haven't been women before, then boards are always [thinking], 'Well, can she hack it?'"

Press 'play' below to hear more of Kelly's interview. You can hear that interview in full on Charlotte Green's Culture Club at 3pm on Sunday 4 January on Classic FM.

Elsewhere in the New Year's honours, Jeffrey Skidmore, conductor and artistic director of choir Ex Cathedra, has been awarded an OBE for services to music. Also recognised with an OBE is John Lubbock, the founder and artistic director of the Orchestra of St John’s and charity Music for Autism.

Other prominent figures in the music world to be honoured include Frances Hickox, the co-founder of the St Endellion festival, who has been made an MBE; the violinist Rodney Friend, who founded the Solomon Trio and was the youngest-ever leader of the LPO, who receives an OBE. For services to Early Music, Peter Holman, who co-founded The Parley of Instruments has been awarded an MBE.

Figures from across the arts have been honoured, including Jeanetta Laurence, the former associate director of the Royal Ballet, who has been awarded an OBE; Faith Liddell, director of Festivals Edinburgh, who has also been made an OBE; Carol Ann Duffy, former poet laureate, who is made a Dame. Stuart Griffiths, chief executive of Birmingham Hippodrome, has been made an OBE.

Actors Joan Collins and Kristen Scott Thomas have been made dames, while actors Sheridan Smith and James Cordon have been awarded OBEs.