The celebrated composer Joseph Horovitz has been presented with a Honorary Doctorate of Music from The Royal College of Music in London.

It was presented to him earlier this month at a ceremony at the college by HRH The Prince of Wales, accompanied by a citation read by Lord Winston, Chairman of the College.

Remarkable career

Born in Vienna in 1926, Joseph Horovitz emigrated to England in 1938 with his family to escape Nazi persecution. He read Music and Modern Languages at New College, Oxford and was enlisted by the Army Education Corps to lecture on Music Appreciation.

In 1948 he studied with Gordon Jacob at the Royal College of Music, and later with Nadia Boulangerin Paris.

His remarkable career has seen him become a figure of worldwide respect; composing twelve ballets, two chamber operas, nine concertos, orchestral, wind and brass music and five string quartets.

He also produced the scores for Son et Lumiere and the satirical Hoffnung Concerts, television programmes, and choral works, notably Captain Noah and his Floating Zoo, sung world-wide in six languages.

He told 4BR: "It's truly heart-warming to be honoured by one's colleagues..."

Brass band works

Joseph Horovitz's popular brass band works, such as his 'Euphonium Concerto' and 'Ballet for Band' amongst others have been performed extensively.

Married in 1956 to his wonderful wife Anna, he has taught Composition at the Royal College of Music since 1961, and in 1981 was made a Fellow.

His remarkable career has seen him become a figure of worldwide respect; composing twelve ballets, two chamber operas, nine concertos, orchestral, wind and brass music and five string quartets4BR

Acclaimed

He was recently featured on a critically acclaimed reprise of the BBC Radio 3 Composer of the Week series with Gordon Jacob, and holds two Ivor Novello Awards, the Nino Rota Prize of Italy, the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Arts First Class, and the Cobbett Medal for chamber music.