Conductor Steuart Bedford and pianist Angela Hewitt have been named in the 2016 New Year’s Honours List in the UK and Canada respectively.

Steuart Bedford is named as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to music. The British conductor was a long-term collaborator with Benjamin Britten and as a result is a leading expert on his music. In 2016 he will conduct Robert Carsen and Festival d’Aix-en-Provence’s production of Peter Grimes on tour in Bahrain and at the Beijing Music Festival.

Angela Hewitt has become a Companion of the Order of Canada – she was previously made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2000 as well as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2006. Hewitt’s forthcoming Canadian highlights this spring include concerts with the Toronto Symphony and Calgary Philharmonic orchestras as well as a solo recital at the National Arts Centre, Ottawa.