Lewes resident and former director of BBC Proms ‘surprised and delighted’ by OBE

David, who has lived in Lewes for the past 24 years, told the Sussex Express he was ‘surprised and delighted’ to learn he would receive the OBE.

He said: “It’s a strange thing when a letter lands on your doormat, which has got a window in it, and it’s actually something nice to pick up. I was really thrilled. It’s a very nice feeling to have credit for some of the work you’ve done during your career.”

The King’s Birthday Honours list 2025, which was made public on Friday, June 13, said David received the OBE for services to music.

He was the general director of Glyndebourne Productions from 2001 to 2015, which he called ‘an amazing job to do’.

David said: “I had just turned 40 when I got that job and opera has always been my first love. I’ve been going to the opera since I was 16, so to have the experience to run this absolutely incredible international opera house right here in Sussex is such an honour. I had 14 incredibly happy years there.”

David became director of the BBC Proms in 2015 and stayed in the role for nine years until 2024.

He said: “The BBC Proms is one of the most well known classical music festivals in the world. To be able to lead that was a great privilege for me – and to work with amazing people. In fact, that’s been the joy of a lot of my work. The pleasure I’ve had from it but also working with brilliant colleagues, both at Glyndebourne and at the Proms, because they’re very much a team effort these things.”

David said he is particularly pleased at having introduced so many new people to classical music. At Glyndebourne, he introduced reduced price tickets for people under the age of 30 and was behind a similar initiative at the Proms. He aimed to bring in different people and included relaxed performances and performances in which the orchestra explained a bit about the music.

David said: “Those moments when you know you’re attracting an audience who might never have been to an opera house, or never been to a concert before, they’re really thrilling.”

He described directing the BBC Proms as being ‘like a giant jigsaw puzzle’. He said: “Every year there are over 80 concerts and so you are continually juggling orchestras, conductors, soloists, programmes and trying to create this mix of different concerts that will appeal to lots of different people. And you’re aware of this tradition that goes back 130 years but you’re trying to keep your programme fresh and exciting every year. That way it’s not stuck in the past, it’s always moving forward.”

Since leaving the Proms David said he has ‘a few irons in the fire’, having just joined the board of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, doing some mentoring and helping organisations with recruitment.

“At the moment I’m having a very nice time with a bit more space in my life to do individual freelance projects,” he said. “Which is a life that suits me very well after spending the past 23 years running two big summer festivals. It’s nice now to look forward to July and August here at home in Sussex.”

David thanked all of the people who have had faith in him throughout his career, including Gus Christie who employed him at Glyndebourne and Lord Hall who gave him the job at The Proms.

David was born in London in 1960 and studied music at Corpus Christi College in Cambridge. He was company manager of the Royal Opera Company from 1982 to 1987, as well as administrator of the New Shakespeare Company from 1987 to 1989, and chief executive of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment from 1993 to 2001.