Jordi Savall receives RPS Honorary Membership

Viol player, conductor and historical music champion, Jordi Savall, received the RPS Honorary Membership last week (1 February) during his first UK performance since the beginning of the Covid pandemic. Receiving his certificate onstage at London’s Wigmore Hall, Savall was met with a standing ovation.

The award was given by RPS in recognition of the violist and conductor’s services to music throughout a career spanning over fifty years. Savall has become a leading figure in the reappraisal of historical music, presenting his research both as a viol player and a director.

RPS chief executive James Murphy, who presented the Honorary Membership certificate, addressed Savall: ‘You have done so much to transport musical treasures from the distant past – that all too easily could have been lost without your stewardship. You have done so much to protect and preserve the viol, so that we too may hear and be consoled by its uniquely sonorous voice.’

Savall has released over 230 discs covering the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and Classical music repertoires. He records an average of 6 albums per year, winning a 2010 Grammy as well as the Midem Classical Award, the International Classical Music Award.

He founded several ensembles: Hespèrion XXI in 1974, La Capella Reial de Catalunya in 1987 and Le Concert des Nations in 1989. He founded his own record label, Alia Vox, with Montserrat Figueras almost a decade later, in 1998.

The RPS Honorary Membership was first awarded in 1826 to Weber, with more recent recipients including Richard Strauss, Stephen Sondheim, and most recently Sarah Connolly in 2020. The award is presented in recognition of music industry members who uplift others with their creations.

You can find out more about the RPS here.