Dove awarded CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours

Jonathan Dove is to receive a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to music, ahead of his 60th Birthday on 18 July 2019.

Few contemporary composers have such universal appeal or have done more to further the cause of modern opera than Jonathan Dove. His comic operatic masterpiece Flight, commissioned by Glyndebourne in 1998 with a libretto by April De Angelis, was described as “the Figaro of our time” by Hugh Canning in The Sunday Times and has gone on to become one of the most performed contemporary operas of the past two decades.

Dove’s continued enthusiasm, talent and energy for working with children, young people and communities to create engaging works has led to commissions from choirs, orchestras and opera companies around the world. His latest community opera with librettist Alasdair Middleton, The Monster in the Maze (2015), was commissioned by Sir Simon Rattle, Simon Halsey and the Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra and Aix-en-Provence Festival and further productions have engaged communities across the globe.
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This summer sees a revival of Dove’s comic opera Mansfield Park at Waterperry Opera Festival in Oxfordshire, described as a “total joy, by turns laugh-out-loud funny and shed-a-tear sad”. A new choral work titled We Are One Fire premieres at the BBC Proms on 19 August with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.


Jonathan Dove said:
”Writing music for children, young people and the community to sing and play is truly one of the great joys in my life. It’s particularly rewarding to bring amateurs and professionals together. I am delighted to receive this honour and pleased that music and creativity has been recognised as important to all of us.”


Nicholas Riddle, CEO at Edition Peters, commented:
“For over 30 years Jonathan has composed a rich body of music that gets performed again and again. His work has delighted and engaged performers and audiences of all ages, especially children and young people for whom he has written many wonderful scores.”