The English Music Festival

Vice-Presidents of the EMF

Lord Armstrong of Ilminster GCB CVO was the Head of the Civil Service from 1983 until 1987. He is the son of the English composer Sir Thomas Armstrong, one of the many lesser-known composers to be championed by the EMF.		Boris Johnson MP is the Mayor of London and a regular columnist for the Daily Telegraph. He was formerly Conservative Member of Parliament for the constituency of Henley-on-Thames (which includes Dorchester-on-Thames, principal venue for the EMF) and Editor of The Spectator.

Professor Roger Scruton is a distinguished academic, author, journalist and composer. He has written extensively on philosophy, music and England’s cultural heritage, as well as covering a diverse range of other topics.		Lord Chadlington of Dean (Peter Gummer) is the Chairman of Huntsworth plc, and was previously founder of Shandwick, which grew to become the world's largest PR company. He sits as a Conservative member of the House of Lords, where he speaks frequently on heritage and the arts.

Brian Kay is well known as a radio presenter for BBC2 and Radio 3, for which he won the Sony Radio Award as Music Presenter of the Year. Brian is currently conductor of the Leith Hill Music Festival, following in the footsteps of Ralph Vaughan Williams. He is also fondly remembered as the bass in the King’s Singers and the lowest frog on Paul McCartney’s single as well as being a member of the backing group for Pink Floyd!		Leonard Slatkin is internationally recognised as a conductor of the highest stature. He is Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra (USA) and was formerly Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Paul Guinery is well-known as a radio presenter, particularly on Radio 3. He is an active member of the Delius Society, of which he has been the Vice-Chairman.		Michael Kennedy CBE is a familiar name as music critic, author, editor of the Oxford Dictionary of Music and biographer of Elgar, Mahler and Vaughan Williams.

Patrick Stewart OBE is an Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated film and stage actor. He has been particularly acclaimed for his Shakeaperean performances, although he is perhaps most widely known for his role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard of Star Trek’s Starship Enterprise. He is a great supporter of classical music, and is available on CD narrating Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and Strauss’s Enoch Arden.		Robert Hardy CBE will be a familiar face to many from his acclaimed performance as Churchill in The Wilderness Years and his much-loved role as the ebullient Siegfried Farnon in All Creatures Great and Small. He is also a leading authority on the English longbow.

Sir Roger Norrington is known internationally for his work as a conductor and music director. He has worked with orchestras ranging from the London Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony and the Montreal Symphony, and in major opera houses such as the Royal Opera House and the English National Opera.		Ursula Vaughan Williams† was the wife of one of the greatest and most widely performed English composers – Ralph Vaughan Williams. She was an author and poet in her own right and sadly passed away just a year after the inaugural EMF.

Jeremy Irons is an internationally acclaimed and Oscar-winning actor, perhaps best known for his performance as Charles Ryder in the television adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited. He took part in the EMF 2006 as the narrator for Vaughan Williams’s evocative Oxford Elegy.		Sir Patrick Moore is an astronomer, author, broadcaster, musician and composer. He has written over 60 books on astronomy, and presented every one of the BBC’s Sky at Night programmes since 1957 – earning him a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest-serving television presenter.

Terry Waite CBE was formerly the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Special Envoy, and in this role he negotiated the release of Western hostages in Iran and Lebanon, where he was himself captured by militant Islamists and held prisoner for four years. He is passionate about music and an enthusiast for British composers such as Elgar.		Simon Jenkins has a successful career as an author and broadcaster. His most recent publications have been England’s 1000 Best Churches and England’s 1000 Best Houses. He is a regular correspondent for The Times, The Sunday Times and The Guardian.

The Marquess of Salisbury (Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, Viscount Cranbourne) is a distinguished Parliamentarian who has served in a number of senior Government posts under Conservative Prime Ministers, and was most recently Shadow Leader of the House of Lords.		Julian Lloyd Webber is widely regarded as one of the most creative musicians of his generation. The son of the noted British composer William Lloyd Webber, his skills as a cellist have won him a well-deserved international reputation. He has given more than 50 works their première recordings – among them important pieces by Bridge, Britten, Sullivan and Holst.

Lady Bliss† was the widow of the well-known English composer, Sir Arthur Bliss.		Felix Aprahamian† was a music critic of the Sunday Times, acquaintance of Messiaen, Poulenc and Delius.

Sir Rowland Whitehead† was a Baronet who supported the EMF from its inception and devoted much energy and enthusiasm to getting the inaugural festival off the ground.