Roger Wright CBE, Chief Executive of Britten Pears Arts, has been awarded a knighthood in HM The King’s Birthday Honours List for Services to Music.

Roger Wright became Chief Executive of Aldeburgh Music in 2014 and has presided over an extraordinary period in its history. This includes the purchase of the Snape Maltings site in 2015 and the merger of the Britten Pears Foundation and Snape Maltings (formerly Aldeburgh Music) to form Britten Pears Arts - a creative campus and visitor destination centre on two heritage sites on the Suffolk coast, bringing together musicians, researchers, communities and audiences.

Britten Pears Arts curates year-round music programmes, including the running of the annual Aldeburgh Festival, commissioning new work, developing young and established British and international musicians, bolstering the reputation of the organisation around the globe, not least in creative health. Roger Wright is committed to supporting local and regional music education and pioneering initiatives with positive impacts for its East Anglian communities, whilst remaining a sector leader in promoting excellence and inclusion.

Through the pandemic and challenging economic times, he has tirelessly and creatively focused on presenting work for live audiences, whenever this has been permitted, often at very short notice and with British artists sorely in need of performance opportunities, and always to the highest standards.

Roger Wright commented, ‘I am really humbled to be awarded this honour. I am privileged to work with a remarkable team of colleagues at Britten Pears Arts and this award is as much a recognition for their hard work and commitment as it is for me. We all believe strongly in the power of music and the arts to transform people’s lives and it has been a deep joy for me to lead this unique organisation over the last decade.’

Sir Simon Robey, Chair, Britten Pears Arts commented, ‘This recognition is so richly deserved, not only for his extraordinary work with us at Britten Pears Arts but for his broad and exceptional contribution to the musical life of our country. Sir Roger, everyone associated with BPA is proud of you and thrilled for you.’

At the end of July after a decade leading Britten Pears Arts, Wright will stand down as Chief Executive. He is succeeded by Andrew Comben the Chief Executive of Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival.

Roger Wright began his professional life in 1978 at the British Music Information Centre and also worked as a freelance writer and broadcaster with specialist knowledge of British 20th century music. He was then appointed Senior Producer at the BBC Symphony Orchestra before becoming Artistic Administrator of The Cleveland Orchestra in the USA in 1989. Three years later, he moved to Hamburg to take the post of Vice President, Artists and Repertoire, at Deutsche Grammophon, before returning to the BBC in 1997 in the newly created post of Head of Classical Music where he led the BBC’s orchestras and choirs. In 1998 he became Controller of BBC Radio 3 and in 2007 also became the Director of the BBC Proms. In September 2014 he joined Aldeburgh Music, now Britten Pears Arts.