2017 in British music

This is a summary of the year 2017 in British music.

Events

• 12 January – The City of London Corporation announces a pledge of £2.5M to a feasibility study, previously halted in November 2016, for a proposed new London concert hall.
• 17 January – UK Music announced that Jo Dipple is to stand down as its CEO in June 2017.
• 18 January – Scottish Opera announces the winners of its 'Opera Sparks 2018' competition:
  • Henry McPherson – Maud
  • Lewis Murphy and Laura Attridge – untitled work
  • Matthew Whiteside and Helene Grøn – Little Black Lies
• 25 January
  • The London Festival of Baroque Music announces that Lindsay Kemp is to stand down as artistic director, and Lucy Bending is to stand down as festival manager, in May 2017, at the conclusion of the 2017 festival.
  • The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center announces its award of the 2017 Elise L. Stoeger Prize, for contributions to chamber music composition, to Huw Watkins.
• 27 January – Lucie Jones is selected to represent the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, with the song "Never Give Up on You", co-written by Denmark's 2013 Eurovision winner Emmelie de Forest.
• 12 February – 59th Annual Grammy Awards (see Awards section)
• 13 February – The European Union Baroque Orchestra (EUBO), currently with its administrative base in Hordley, announces its intention to relocate to AMUZ (Augustinus Muziekzentrum), Antwerp, in 2018, in the wake of the Brexit referendum. In parallel, the EUBO announces its plan to discontinue the EUBO Mobile Baroque Academy (EMBA) project at the end of March 2017.
• 28 February – The St Paul's Cathedral Choir announces the appointment of Carris Jones to its roster, the first female chorister in the choir's recorded history, effective 1 September 2017, as alto vicar choral.
• 1 March – Birmingham Conservatoire and Birmingham School of Acting announce that the two institutions are to merge, effective September 2017.
• 2 March
  • The Academy of Ancient Music announces the appointment of Alexander Van Ingen as its new chief executive.
  • The BBC announces the appointment of Neil Ferris as the new chorus director of the BBC Symphony Chorus, effective May 2017. In parallel, Grace Rossiter is to join the chorus as deputy chorus director.
• 8 March – New Music Scotland presented the inaugural Scottish Awards for New Music:
• 5 April – The Southbank Centre announces the appointment of Elaine Bedell as its next chief executive, the first woman to hold the post, effective May 2017.
• 18 April – Opera North announces the resignation of Aleksandar Marković as its music director, with his contract formally to terminate in July 2017, but where he is not to appear with the company for the remainder of the 2016–2017 season.
• 2 May – The Leeds International Piano Competition announces that Murray Perahia is to be its new patron, effective 1 June 2017.
• 9 May – The BBC announces the appointment of Sofi Jeannin as the next chief conductor of the BBC Singers, the first woman to be named to the post, effective July 2018.
• 13 May – The UK finishes 15th in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with 111 points.
• 22 May – At a concert by American Pop Star Ariana Grande at the Manchester Arena, 22 people are killed in a suicide bomber attack.
• 25 May – The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) announces the appointment of Thomas Søndergård as its next principal conductor, effective with the 2018–2019 season. In parallel, Peter Oundjian is to conclude his music directorship of the RSNO at the close of the 2017–2018 season.
• 4 June – At the Old Trafford Cricket Ground, the One Love Manchester benefit concert takes place, to benefit the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing. The performers included Ariana Grande, Katy Perry, Coldplay, Justin Bieber, Robbie Williams, Chris Martin, Liam Gallagher, and Marcus Mumford.
• 7 June – Glyndebourne Opera announces the appointment of Nicholas Jenkins as its new chorus master, effective 4 September 2017.
• 9–11 June – Download Festival 2017 takes place at Donington Park in Leicestershire. The main stage was headlined by System of a Down, Biffy Clyro and Aerosmith, the Zippo encore stage by Sum 41, Rob Zombie and Slayer, the Avalanche stage by Sleeping with Sirens, Simple Plan and The Dillinger Escape Plan (in their final UK appearance), and the Dogtooth stage by Exodus, Wednesday 13 and Perturbator.
• 12 June – Queen's Birthday Honours
  • Sir Mark Elder and Sir Paul McCartney are each made a Companion of Honour.
  • Sarah Connolly is made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
  • George Benjamin is made a Knight Bachelor.
  • Chi-chi Nwanoku and Roderick Williams are each made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
  • Gerald Finley is made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
• 19 June – The BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition results are announced:
  • Main Prize – Catriona Morison (the first-ever British winner of the Main Prize in the history of the competition)
  • Song Prize – Catriona Morison and Ariunbaatar Ganbaatar (joint prize winners)
  • Audience Prize – Louise Alder
• 22 June – The Royal College of Music Philharmonic Orchestra presents a benefit concert for residents left homeless after the Grenfell Tower fire.
• 26 June – The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra announces that Charles Dutoit is to stand down as its principal conductor, and to take the title of Honorary Conductor for Life, in 2019.
• 27 June – Arts Council England (ACE) reports its national portfolio funding decisions for the scheduled period of 2018–2022, which include the following music-related items:
  • Re-admission of English National Opera to portfolio funding, at £12.4 million per year
  • First-time funding for the British Paraorchestra
  • 3% diminished funding for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and the Southbank Centre, per ACE's specific request
• 30 July – At The Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, Xian Zhang conducts the annual Prom which includes the Symphony No. 9 of Beethoven, the first woman conductor ever to do so.
• 9 August
  • The Reverend David Ingall of the St Sepulchre-without-Newgate Church in London (known as the National Musicians' Church) announces that the church is to close its hiring programme and acceptance of new bookings effective 2018.
  • Music Theatre Wales announces the appointment of Richard Baker as its consultant music director, with immediate effect.
• 15 August – The Royal Philharmonic Society announces Charles Dutoit as the recipient of the 103rd RPS Gold Medal. The RPS presented Dutoit with the medal at 17 August 2017 performance by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at The Proms, at the Royal Albert Hall.
• 21 September – English National Opera announces that Cressida Pollock is to stand down as its chief executive in June 2018.
• 11 October – The European Union Youth Orchestra announces its intention to relocate its administrative functions to Ferrara and Rome, Italy, in the wake of the Brexit referendum.
• 23 November – The BBC Concert Orchestra announces the appointment of Bramwell Tovey as its next principal conductor, effective January 2018, with an initial contract of 5 years. In parallel, Keith Lockhart is to stand down from the principal conductorship of the BBC Concert Orchestra, and to take the title of chief guest conductor.
• 28 November – The Association of British Orchestras (ABO) announces the election of Gavin Reid as its new chair.
• 4 December – Glyndebourne Opera announces that Sebastian F. Schwarz is to conclude his tenure as its general director in 2018.
• 5 December – The Royal Philharmonic Society announces that Rosemary Johnson is to stand down as its executive director in the summer of 2018.
• 15 December
  • The Cheltenham Music Festival announces the appointment of Alison Balsom as its next artistic director, effective in 2018, the first woman to hold the post.
  • Sinfonia Cymru announces the appointment of Peter Bellingham as its next chief executive. In parallel, Sophie Lewis is to stand down as the ensemble's chief executive at the end of January 2018.
• 21 December — The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra announces the cancellation of concert appearances by principal conductor and artistic director Charles Dutoit, pending the resolution of allegations of sexual assault against him.
• 29 December — New Year's Honours 2018
  • Barry Gibb and Ringo Starr are each made a Knight Bachelor.
  • Jonathan Freeman-Attwood is made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
  • Sarah Alexander, Marc Almond, and are each made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
  • Richard Cowie, Anthony Marwood, Bazil Meade, David Temple Nigel Tully, and Cleveland Watkiss are each made a Member of the Order of the British Empire.

Television programmes

• 7 January – Let It Shine (BBC1), hosted by Graham Norton and Mel Giedroyc, with Gary Barlow, Dannii Minogue and Martin Kemp serving as judges throughout the series.
• 13 January – Sound of Musicals with Neil Brand (BBC4)
• 23 March – The Last Days of George Michael (Channel 5)
• 7 May – Babs (BBC1), biopic of Barbara Windsor
• June – The Voice Kids (ITV), hosted by Emma Willis
• 2 October – Tunes for Tyrants (BBC4), presented by Suzy Klein

Artists and groups reformed

• Bananarama
• Elastica
• Friendly Fires
• Jethro Tull
• Orbital
• Sleeper
• Steps
• The Streets
• The KLF
• Viva Brother

Groups on hiatus

• Disclosure
• One Direction

Groups disbanded

• Black Sabbath
• Brontide
• Heaven's Basement
• The Maccabees
• The Stone Roses
• Stornoway
• Vant
• We Are the Ocean
• Wild Beasts
• Xerath

Classical works

• Richard Allain – Videte Miraculum
• Julian Anderson – The Imaginary Museum (Piano Concerto)
• Kerry Andrew – Archbishop Parker's Psalme 150
• John Barber – Sicut Lilium
• Gerald Barry – Canada
• Sally Beamish and David Harsent – The Judas Passion
• Judith Bingham – Ceaselessly Weaving Your Name
• Harrison Birtwistle – Deep Time
• Charlotte Bray – Blaze and Fall
• Ken Burton – Many are the wonders
• Philip Cashian – Piano Concerto ('The Book of Ingenious Devices')
• John Casken – Clarinet Quintet
• Anna Clyne – Beltane
• Marisa Cornford – The Stations of the Cross
• Tom Coult
  • Two Games and a Nocturne
  • St John's Dance
• Lyell Cresswell – Llanto (Clarinet Concerto)
• Gordon Crosse – Symphony No 3 ('Between Despair and Dawn')
• Tansy Davies – Forest (Concerto for four horns and orchestra)
• Jonathan Dove – Vadam et circuibo
• Brian Elias
  • Oboe Quartet
  • Cello Concerto
• Harry Escott – O Light of Light
• Edmund Finnis – The Air, Tuning
• Graham Fitkin – Recorder Concerto
• Alexander Goehr – The Waking
• Lori Goldston – That Sunrise (for cello and orchestra)
• Michael Zev Gordon – Violin Concerto
• Helen Grime
  • Piano Concerto
  • Fanfare
• Emily Hall – Advert – wedding dress
• Alexandra Harwood – Sinfonia Concertante (The Secret Ball)
• Simon Holt – Bagatelarañas
• Gabriel Jackson – Chorale Prelude on 'Herzliebster Jesu, was hast du verbrochen'
• Joel Jarventausta – Cantus
• Hannah Kendall – The Spark Catchers
• Oliver Knussen – O Hototogisu – fragment of a Japonisme
• Guillermo Lago – The Wordsworth Poems
• Nicola LeFanu – The Crimson Bird
• Joanna Marsh – Flare
• Grace Evangeline Mason – RIVER
• Robert Matthew-Walker – A Bad Night in Los Angeles
• Colin Matthews – It Rains
• Stuart McIntosh – A Song for St. Cecilia's Day
• Giulia Monducci – Versus
• Alasdair Nicolson – Piano Concerto No 2 (The Haunted Ebb)
• Roxanna Panufnik – Unending Love
• Ben Parry – Out of the Deep
• Joseph Phibbs – Clarinet Concerto
• Julian Philips – Winter Music
• Francis Pott – La chiesa del sole – in memoriam John Scott
• Deborah Pritchard – Edge
• Gabriel Prokofiev – Concerto for trumpet, percussion, turntables and orchestra
• Robert Quinney – Chorale Prelude on 'Nun lob, mein' Seel', den Herren'
• Emma-Ruth Richards – Sciamachy
• Colin Riley – Double Concerto for Two Cellos
• Sarah Rimkus – Mater Dei
• Alec Roth – Night Prayer
• Simon Rowland-Jones – Close Shave
• Edwin Roxburgh – Concerto for Piano and Wind Orchestra
• Oliver Rudland – Eventide
• Andy Scott – Guitar Concerto
• Thomas Simaku – The Scream
• Giles Swayne – Everybloom
• William Sweeney – Eòlas nan Ribheid (The Wisdom of the Reeds; concertino for clarinet and orchestra)
• Dobrinka Tabakova – Orpheus' Comet
• Matthew Taylor – Goddess Excellently Bright
• Mark-Anthony Turnage
  • Remembering (In Memoriam Evan Scofield)
  • Col
• Freya Waley-Cohen – String Quartet
• Joanna Ward – She Adored
• Huw Watkins – Symphony
• Kate Whitley (music) and Malala Yousafzai (text) – Speak Out
• Roderick Williams – 'Là ci darem la mano'

Opera

• Danyal Dhondy and Nick Pitts-Tucker – Shahrazad
• Louis Mander and Stephen Fry – The Life to Come
• Noah Mosley and Ivo Mosley – Mad King Suibhne
• Roxanna Panufnik and Jessica Duchen – Silver Birch
• Lliam Paterson
  • The 8th Door
  • BambinO
• Julian Philips and Stephen Plaice – The Tale of Januarie
• Guto Puw and Gwyneth Glyn – Y Tŵr
• Snow (opera in three acts with music by three composers; libretto by JL Williams):
  • Act I: Lewis Murphy (music) – 'Three Ravens'
  • Act II: Lucie Treacher (music) – 'The Death of the Seven Dwarves'
  • Act III: Tom Floyd (music) – 'The Crystal Casket'
• Ryan Wigglesworth – The Winter's Tale

Musical theatre

• The Band by Tim Firth, based on the music of Take That.
• Fat Friends The Musical by Kay Mellor and Nick Lloyd Webber
• Nativity! The Musical, written and directed by Debbie Isitt, and co-composed by Nicky Ager

Film scores and incidental music

Film

• Harry Gregson-Williams – The Zookeeper's Wife
• Daniel Pemberton – King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
• Max Richter – The Sense of an Ending

Television

• Dan Jones – SS-GB, The Replacement
• Carly Paradis – Prime Suspect 1973
• Max Richter – Taboo
• Kevin Sargent – Tina and Bobby

Awards

British music awards

• Brit Awards – see 2017 Brit Awards
• Royal Philharmonic Society Awards
  • Audiences and Engagement: East Neuk Festival, in collaboration with 14–18 NOW – Memorial Ground (David Lang)
  • Chamber Music and Song: Fretwork
  • Chamber-Scale Composition: Rebecca Saunders – Skin
  • Concert Series and Festivals: Lammermuir Festival
  • Conductor: Richard Farnes
  • Creative Communication: Beethoven for a Later Age: The Journey of a String Quartet by Edward Dusinberre (Faber)
  • Ensemble: Manchester Camerata
  • Instrumentalist: James Ehnes
  • Large-Scale Composition: Philip Venables – 4.48 Psychosis
  • Learning and Participation: South-West Open Youth Orchestra
  • Opera and Music Theatre: Opera North – Ring Cycle
  • Singer: Karita Mattila
  • Young Artists: Joseph Middleton
• Scottish Awards for New Music:
  • Achievement in New Music: Allie Robertson
  • Award for Community / Education Project: Drake Music Scotland – 'Wagner's School of Cool'
  • Large Scale Work: Helen Grime – Two Eardley Pictures: Catterline in Winter and Snow
  • New Music Performer(s) of the Year: Red Note Ensemble
  • Recorded New Work: Robert Irvine, Songs and Lullabies (Delphian Records)
  • Small/medium Scale Work: David Fennessy – Panopticon

Grammy awards

• Album of the Year – 25, Adele
• Song of the Year – 'Hello', Adele
• Best Pop Solo Performance – 'Hello', Adele
• Best Pop Vocal Album – 25, Adele
• Best Rock Performance – Blackstar, David Bowie
• Best Rock Song – 'Blackstar', David Bowie
• Best Alternative Music Album – Blackstar, David Bowie
• Best Recording Package – Blackstar
• Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical – Blackstar
• Best Classical Solo Vocal Album (tie)
  • Shakespeare Songs, Ian Bostridge and Sir Antonio Pappano
  • Schumann & Berg, Dorothea Röschmann and Dame Mitsuko Uchida

Charts

Number-one singles

The singles chart includes a proportion for streaming.

Number-one albums

The albums chart includes a proportion for streaming.

Top singles of the year

This chart was published by the Official Charts Company in January 2018

Best-selling albums

Deaths

• 8 January – Peter Sarstedt, singer, songwriter, and musician, 75
• 12 January – Larry Steinbachek, keyboardist (Bronski Beat), 56 (cancer) (death announced on this date)
• 18 January – Mike Kellie, drummer (Spooky Tooth), composer and record producer, 69
• 22 January – Pete Overend Watts, bass guitarist (Mott The Hoople), 69 (throat cancer)
• 28 January – Geoff Nicholls, keyboardist (Black Sabbath), lung cancer, 68
• 31 January
  • Deke Leonard, rock guitarist (Man), 72
  • John Schroeder, easy listening composer, arranger, songwriter (Sounds Orchestral) and record producer, 82
  • John Wetton, singer, songwriter, bassist (Asia, King Crimson, Uriah Heep), colon cancer, 67
• 3 February – Gervase de Peyer, clarinetist, 90
• 12 February – Damian, singer, musician, cancer, 52
• 17 February – Peter Skellern, singer-songwriter, 69
• 13 March – John Lever, drummer (The Chameleons), 55
• 27 March – Clem Curtis, Trinidadian British singer (The Foundations),76
• 9 April – Alan Henderson, bassist (Them), 72
• 10 April – David Angel, British violinist and founding member of the Maggini Quartet, 62
• 11 April
  • Eric Cook, heavy metal band manager (Venom) and record label executive, co-founder of Demolition Records, 55 (cancer)
  • Toby Smith, keyboardist, songwriter, producer (Jamiroquai), cancer, 46
• 13 April – Nona Liddell, violinist, 89
• 15 April – Allan Holdsworth, guitarist and composer (Bruford, U.K., Soft Machine), 70
• 18 April – Gordon Langford, British composer, 86
• 28 April – George Pratt, organist and music professor, 82
• 2 May – Norma Proctor, contralto, 89
• 5 May – Clive Brooks, drummer (Egg, The Groundhogs), 67
• 13 May – Jimmy Copley, drummer (Jeff Beck, Graham Parker, Tears for Fears), 63 (leukaemia)
• 29 May – David Lewiston, music collector, 88
• 2 June
  • Malcolm Lipkin, composer, 85
  • Sir Jeffrey Tate, conductor, 74 (heart attack)
• 6 June – Vin Garbutt, folk singer, 69 (complications following heart surgery)
• 14 June – Deborah Lamprell, opera house staff member at Holland Park Opera, 45
• 15 June – Kyla Greenbaum, pianist and composer, 95
• 13 July – John Dalby, pianist and composer, 88
• 5 August – Lee Blakeley, opera director, 45
• 28 August – Melissa Bell, singer (Soul II Soul), 53
• 6 September – Derek Bourgeois, composer, 75
• 7 September – John Maxwell Geddes, composer, 76
• 11 September – Sir Peter Hall, theatre and opera director, 86
• 22 September – Mike Carr, jazz organist and pianist, 79
• 28 September – Donald Mitchell, musicologist, 92
• 30 September – Apex (Robert Dickeson), music producer, 36
• 16 October
  • Iain Shedden, Scottish-Australian musician and journalist, 60 (laryngeal cancer)
  • Heather Slade-Lipkin, pianist, harpsichordist and teacher, 70
• 19 October – Phil Miller, musician, 68
• 22 October – George Young, British-born Australian musician, songwriter and producer, 70
• 27 October – Brian Galliford, British tenor, 53
• 13 November – Paul Brown, British opera and theatre stage designer, 57
• 7 November – Paul Buckmaster, arranger and composer, Grammy winner (2002), 71
• 18 November – Malcolm Young, Scottish-born Australian Hall of Fame guitarist and songwriter (AC/DC), 64 (complications from dementia)
• 11 December – Bruce Rankin, British tenor, 65
• 15 December – John Critchinson, jazz pianist, 82

See also

• 2017 in British radio
• 2017 in British television
• 2017 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 2017

Notes

References