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2023 in British music

This is a summary of the year 2023 in British music.

Events

January

  • 6 January – Glyndebourne Festival Opera announces that its originally planned 2023 Glyndebourne on Tour season will not occur, as a result of the reduced funding from Arts Council England for the 2023–2026 National Portfolio.
  • 9 January – The Royal Albert Hall announces the appointment of James Ainscough as its next chief executive director, effective in the late spring of 2023.
  • 10 January – The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra announces that Kirill Karabits is to conclude his chief conductorship of the orchestra at the close of the 2023–2024 season.
  • 13 January – The BBC announces the appointment of Sam Jackson as the new controller of BBC Radio 3, effective April 2023.
  • 17 January – Arts Council England (ACE) announces the presentation to English National Opera (ENO) of a one-year grant of £11.46M for the period of April 2023 – March 2024, following its previous November 2022 announcement of a total withdrawal of ACE's funding to ENO for the period 2023–2026 unless ENO relocates outside of London.
  • 31 January – The Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation announces Sir George Benjamin as the recipient of the 2023 Ernst von Siemens Music Prize.

February

March

  • 7 March – The BBC releases its 2023 Classical Review 2023, whose intended plans include:
  • A reduction in the number of salaried posts in the three BBC England-based orchestras by 20%
  • The closure of the BBC Singers
  • 15 March – Universal Music Group announces its purchase of Hyperion Records.
  • 24 March – The BBC announces a reversal of its intended closure of the BBC Singers, following public reactions in protest at the original 7 March 2023 announcement.
  • 27 March – The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra announces the appointment of Emma Stenning as its next chief executive, effective 3 April 2023.

April

May

June

  • 6 June – The BBC announces its new roster of New Generation Artists for the period 2023–2025:
  • James Atkinson (baritone)
  • Alim Beisembayev (pianist)
  • Chaos Quartet
  • Giorgi Gigashvili (pianist)
  • Niamh O’Sullivan (mezzo-soprano)
  • Michael Pandya (collaborative pianist)
  • Johanna Wallroth (soprano)
  • 16 June
  • The BBC Concert Orchestra announces the appointment of Anna-Maria Helsing as its next chief conductor, the first female conductor to be named to the post and the first female conductor to be named chief conductor of any BBC orchestra, effective 1 October 2023, with an initial contract of three seasons.
  • King's Birthday Honours:
  • Kathryn McDowell is made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
  • Ivor Bolton and Tasmin Little are each made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).
  • Lucy Crowe, Janine Irons, Nicky Spence, and Caron Wheeler are each made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)
  • Rekesh Chauhan, Peter Corry, Jennie Muskett and Jyotsna Srikanth are each made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).
  • 18 June – BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2023 competition results:
  • Main Prize: Adolfo Corrado
  • Song Prize: Sungho Kim
  • Audience Prize: Julieth Lozano Rolong
  • 20 June – The Hallé announces the appointment of Wong Kah Chun as its next principal conductor and artistic advisor, effective with the 2024–2025 season, with an initial contract of 5 seasons.
  • 23 June
  • The Foo Fighters make a surprise appearance at the Glastonbury Festival 2023, appearing on the Pyramid Stage.
  • The Arctic Monkeys headline the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury 2023, their third appearance at the festival.
  • 24 June
  • Rick Astley plays the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury 2023.
  • Guns N' Roses headline the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury 2023.
  • 25 June – Elton John plays the final UK concert of his farewell tour at Glastonbury 2023, headlining the Pyramid Stage on the festival's final day.
  • 27 June – Lewis Capaldi announces a sabbatical from touring for the "foreseeable future" after struggling to finish his set at Glastonbury 2023.
  • 29 June – National Youth Orchestras of Scotland announce the appointment of Catherine Larsen-Maguire to the newly created post of music director, effective 2024, with an initial tenure of 3 years.

July

August

September

October

November

  • 2 November
  • "Now and Then", described by the surviving members of The Beatles as their "last song", receives its public premiere.
  • The sale of tickets for the 2024 Glastonbury Festival is delayed for two weeks "out of fairness" to customers who did not realise their registration had expired.
  • 3 November – The re-recorded version of Taylor Swift's album 1989 becomes the fastest selling album of 2023, selling 184,000 copies in the UK in its week of release, more than doubling the sales of the original version released in 2014.
  • 7 November –
  • The Barbican Centre announces the appointment of Helen Wallace as its new head of music, effective February 2024.
  • Kings Place announces that Helen Wallace is to stand down as its artistic and executive director at the close of January 2024.
  • English National Ballet announces the appointment of Maria Seletskaja as its next music director, effective with the 2024–2025 season.
  • Arcangelo announces the appointment of Sir Nicholas Kenyon as its next chair of trustees, effective March 2024.
  • 10 November
  • Remastered versions of The Beatles' Red Album and Blue Album are released to coincide with the issue of their final track, "Now and Then", which is included on the release.
  • "Now and Then" tops the UK Singles Chart, giving The Beatles the longest gap between the first and last number one.
  • 16 November – Oxford Brookes University announces the scheduled closure of its music department and the shuttering of its music programmes in 2026.
  • 17 November – The new versions of The Beatles' Red Album and Blue Album are beaten to the top of the UK Album Chart by Taylor Swift's 1989 (Taylor's Version), putting them in the same position as the original 1973 release of the albums, which were beaten to number one by David Bowie Young Americans. The Blue Album reaches number two, while the Red Album reaches number three, the same positions they were at in 1973.
  • 19 November – Tickets for Glastonbury 2024 go on sale at 9.00am, and sell out within an hour.
  • 22 November – The four remaining members of Girls Aloud–Cheryl Tweedy, Kimberley Walsh, Nadine Coyle and Nicola Roberts–announce a reunion tour for 2024 following an eleven year break, and will dedicate the show to their late bandmate, Sarah Harding.
  • 23 November – The BBC announces that David Pickard is to stand down as director of The Proms after the 2024 season.
  • 24 November
  • Organisers of the BRIT Awards announce they will update the rules for the 2024 Awards ceremony following controversy over the introduction of gender neutral awards when no female artists were nominated for Best Artist. The list of nominations for the prize will be expanded from five to ten. There will also be a prize for Best R'n'B Act.
  • Blink 182, Fred Again, Lana Del Rey and Catfish and the Bottlemen are among the acts announced as headline acts for the 2024 Reading and Leeds Festivals.
  • 27 November – Members of Glasgow's Grand Ole Opry vote to ban the use of the Confederate Flag at the venue.
  • 30 November – The Bristol Beacon music venue, previously known as Colston Hall, reopens after refurbishment and five years after it closed for repairs.

December

Bands formed

Bands reformed

Classical works

  • Julian Anderson – ECHOES
  • Kristina Arakelyan – Whin Lands (texts by Katrina Porteous)
  • Newton Armstrong – The Book of the Sediments
  • Gerald Barry – Kafka's Earplugs
  • Olivia Belli – Limina Luminis
  • Laura Bowler – Advert
  • Kerensa Briggs – Ode to a Savior
  • Linda Buckley – Mallacht
  • Anna Clyne – Weathered (clarinet concerto)
  • Brian Elias – I saw a peacock
  • Rufus Isabel Elliot – the stones in the river by our camp in the forest / the space on the ground where we lay
  • Sadie Harrison – The River Dreams of Winter (first public performance)
  • Hannah Kendall – O flower of fire
  • Sarah Lianne Lewis – The Sky Didn't Fall
  • Christian Mason (music) and Paul Griffiths (text) – The Singing Tree
  • Grace-Evangeline Mason
  • A Memory of the Ocean
  • ABLAZE THE MOON
  • David Matthews – String Quartet No. 17
  • Scott McLaughlin – The Dirac Sea: Folds in continuous fields
  • Roxanna Panufnik (music) and Jessica Duchen (texts) – Gallery of Memories
  • Joseph Phibbs – Flame and Shadow
  • Adam Pounds – Symphony No 4.
  • Colin Riley – Hearing Places
  • Angela Elizabeth Slater – Where skies aflame (for string quartet)
  • Ryan Wigglesworth – Quatre Vignettes de Jules Renard (version for voice and orchestra)

New operas

  • Sarah Angliss and Ross Sutherland – Giant
  • Sir George Benjamin and Martin Crimp – Picture a Day Like This
  • Conor Mitchell – Abomination: A DUP Opera
  • Joby Talbot and Gene Scheer – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
  • Philip Venables and Ted Huffman – The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions

British music awards

Charts and sales

Number-one singles

The singles chart includes a proportion for streaming.

Number-one albums

The albums chart includes a proportion for streaming.

Number-one compilation albums

The compilation chart includes a proportion for streaming.

Year-end charts

Top singles of the year

This chart was published by the Official Charts Company on December 29, 2023

Best-selling albums

This chart was published by the Official Charts Company on January 3, 2024

For the first time in British music history, an album that never reached number one on the weekly chart became the biggest-selling album of the year. The Highlights, by The Weeknd, also sold all its albums in digital and streaming formats.

Deaths

See also

Notes

References