Congratulations to RNCM alumni Simon Keenlyside and Alice Coote who have been recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to music.
Baritone Simon, who graduated in 1987, has been awarded a knighthood, while 1992 mezzo-soprano Alice has received an OBE.
Last summer, Simon was awarded the title of Austrian Kammersänger at the Vienna State Opera. He was made a CBE in 2003, and won the 2006 Olivier Award for outstanding achievement in Opera. In 2007, he was given the ECHO Klassik award for Male Singer of the Year, and in 2011, was honoured with Musical America’s Vocalist of the Year Award.
Alice is recognised as one of the leading mezzo-sopranos of her generation. Equally famed on the great operatic stages as in concert and recital she has been named the ‘superlative British Mezzo’ (San Francisco Chronicle). Her performances have been described as ‘breathtaking in [its] sheer conviction and subtlety of perception’ (The Times) and her voice as ‘beautiful, to be sure, but, more importantly, it thrills you to the marrow.’ (The Daily Telegraph).
