1 January: BBC One sees in the New Year with the concert Rick Astley Rocks New Year's Eve. Rick Astley is joined by various guests, including Rylan Clark with whom he performs a rendition of the Dead of Alive track "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)".
3 January: Data from the British Phonographic Industry shows that female artists enjoyed a record year in the UK Singles Chart, with female artists or groups topping the charts for 31 of 52 weeks, the most since the charts began in 1952.
5 January: Indie rock band The Last Dinner Party are named the BBC Sound of 2024.
6 January: Music researcher Colin Jagger launches an appeal to find the whereabouts of the original score of Gilbert and Sullivan's Utopia Limited, which was sold in 1915 and is believed to be lost.
7 January: At the 75th Creative Arts Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, Foy Vance and Ed Sheeran win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for "A Beautiful Game", written for the final episode of the TV series Ted Lasso.
8 January: Roger Daltrey announces he will step down as curator of the annual Teenage Cancer Trust gigs held at the Royal Albert Hall following the 2024 events.
10 January: Stevie Spring is appointed Chair of the PRS for Music Board, succeeding Stephen Davidson, who will relinquish the role officially at the organisations' AGM.
11 January: Royal Mail issues a set of 15 stamps featuring the Spice Girls to celebrate their 30th anniversary, the first time a set of UK stamps have been dedicated to a female pop group.
22 January: – Birmingham Royal Ballet announces simultaneously the departure of Koen Kessels as its music director on 30 June 2024, and the appointment of Paul Murphy as its next music director, effective 1 July 2024.
24 January:
Research published by the Music Venues Trust highlights the number of live music venues closing due to financial pressure, with 125 abandoning live music in 2023, half of those closing completely.
Raye is nominated for seven Brit Awards, setting a new record for the most nominations received by a single artist.
29 January:
Nicki Minaj, 21 Savage, J Hus and Doja Cat are confirmed as headline acts for the 2024 Wireless Festival, scheduled to take place from 12–14 July.
Equity announces an interim agreement with English National Opera that forestalls previously declared intentions of industrial action.
30 January: A report published by the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee highlights misogyny in the music industry.
31 January :
The rock band Nothing but Thieves play an exclusive gig for Radio X listeners at London's O2 Forum Kentish Town.
Adele announces plans to hold a series of concerts at a specially built stadium in Munich in August, something she describes as "a bit random, but still fabulous!".
3 February: Seventeen grassroots music venues across Wales experiencing financial difficulties are offered £718,000 in Welsh Government funding to help keep them open.
8 February: Kings Place announces the appointment of Sam McShane as its next artistic director, effective 20 May 2024.
11 February: Oasis are nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame alongside other artists including Sinéad O'Connor, Cher and Mariah Carey.
15 February: The BBC reverses its plan to axe its in-house BBC Singers choir, with a new partnership between the ensemble and the Voces8 Foundation for future sustainability of the ensemble.
16 February: Orchestra members, chorus members, and music staff of English National Opera (ENO) call off their previously intended industrial action for February, after agreement in principle by ENO management to revise their original plans for redunancy and re-engagement of the musicians.
22 February: The London Philharmonic Choir announces that Neville Creed is to retire as its artistic director at the close of the 2024–2025 season, and subsequently to take the title of chorus director emeritus.
23 February: Rapper Wiley, whose real name is Richard Cowie, is stripped of his MBE after sharing abusive and antisemitic social media posts.
26 February: The Royal Mint unveils a collectable coin featuring George Michael.
29 February: Manchester's Co-op Live arena, due to open in April, is chosen as the venue for the 2024 MTV Europe Music Awards on 10 November.
1 March:
Swing Fever, an album of big band standards recorded by Jools Holland and Rod Stewart, reaches number one in the UK album chart, giving Holland his first number one album.
Release of "Dizzy", Olly Alexander's UK entry for the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest.
The annual Cân i Gymru (Song for Wales) contest is held in Swansea, and is won by Sara Davies with the song "Ti".
2 March: The 2024 Brit Awards are take place at London's O2 Arena.[30] Raye is the biggest winner of the night, winning six of the seven awards she was nominated for, and beating previous records set by Blue, Adele and Harry Styles at a single awards ceremony.
4 March:
The BBC Concert Orchestra announces the appointment of Matthew Swann as its next Director, effective 27 March 2024.
The Home Office grants visas to the Afghan Youth Orchestra, after public protest at the Home Office's prior refusal of their visa applications just before the start of their scheduled UK tour.
5 March:
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra announces the appointment of Sarah Bardwell as its next managing director.
Naxos Music Group and Klaus Heymann announce their acquisition of Chandos Records.
The Royal Philharmonic Society announces the recipients of its 2024 RPS Awards:
Opera and Music Theatre: Chornobyldorf – Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival
Series and Events: Manchester Classical
Singer: Nicky Spence
Storytelling: Quartet – Leah Broad
Young Artist: Lotte Betts-Dean
6 March: The National Opera Studio announces the appointment of Eric Melear as its next artistic director, effective July 2024.
7 March: Blur drummer Dave Rowntree is selected as the Labour Party candidate for Mid Sussex.
10 March: The UK Country Airplay chart, the first ever genre-specific radio chart in the United Kingdom, debuts its inaugural list, with "Creek Will Rise" by Conner Smith claiming the title of first number one single.
14 March: Dua Lipa, Coldplay, SZA and Shania Twain are confirmed as headline acts at Glastonbury 2024.
18 March: The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra announces the appointment of Mark Wigglesworth as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2024–2025 season, with an initial contract of four years.
19 March:
Acts are announced for BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend, including Raye, Rag'n'Bone Man, Charli XCX and Aitch.
St John's College, Cambridge, announces that it is discontinuing the St John's Voices, a mixed choir created in 2013 to give sopranos an opportunity to sing in the college chapel.
5 April: Britten Pears Arts announces the appointment of Andrew Comben as its next chief executive officer, effective September 2024.
12 April:
Oasis re-release their debut single "Supersonic" to coincide with its 30th anniversary. The single included a live recording of the song made at Limelight in Belfast in September 1994.
James McCartney and Sean Ono Lennon release their single "Primrose Hill".
15 April: The Three Choirs Festival announces that Alexis Paterson is to stand down as its chief executive after the 2024 season.
16 April: The Welsh National Opera announces it is cutting back on performances because of cuts in funding from the Arts Council of Wales and the Arts Council of England.
18 April: Coach resale tickets for Glastonbury 2024 go on sale, and sell out in 18 minutes.
19 April: The Brixton Academy reopens for the first time since its licence was suspended after a crowd crush in which two people died in December 2022.
20 April:
Co-op Live, the UK's largest indoor arena seating 23,500 and costing £365m to build, opens in Manchester. The venue is forced to apologise, however, after cancelling some tickets to a test gig with Rick Astley and offers ticketholders affected tickets to another concert. A series of problems mean the venue's official opening is postponed until 1 May.
All five members of the Spice Girls reunite to celebrate Victoria Beckham's 50th birthday.
21 April: The final wave of resale tickets for Glastonbury 2024 sell out within 22 minutes of their release.
23 April: The inaugural Northern Music Awards are held in Manchester.
25 April: Details of the 2024 BBC Proms are announced, with concerts including disco and appearances by Florence and the Machine and Sam Smith.
26 April: Taylor Swift's album The Tortured Poets Department tops the UK Album Chart, and achieves the highest first-week sales in seven years, with sales of 270,000 units.
30 April:
The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden formally announces a name change for the company to the Royal Ballet and Opera.
19-year-old music student Patrick Bennett is reported to have becomes the UK's youngest composer after composing music for the second series of BBC One police drama Granite Harbour.
1 May: Manchester's Co-op Live venue postpones its opening for a third time. A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, the artist scheduled to perform, switches his concert to 4 May at the rival Manchester Arena.
2 May: Take That and Keane are among bands and artists to move gigs from the troubled Co-op Live arena amid ongoing technical issues at the venue.
3 May: The Royal Philharmonic Society announces the appointment of Angela Dixon as its new chair, effective 22 May 2024.
9 May:
The BBC announces the artists for the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme during the period of 2024–2026:
Julius Asal (piano)
Hana Chang (violin)
Sterling Elliott (cello)
Elizaveta Ivanova (flute)
Kleio Quartet (string quartet)
Santiago Sánchez (tenor)
Emma Rawicz (jazz saxophone)
Spotify says music by UK artists generated £750m in royalties on its platform during 2023.
10 May: The Co-op Live arena says it is ready to open after completing safety checks, with Elbow scheduled to perform as the opening act on 14 May.
11 May: Olly Alexander represents the UK at the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest with his song "Dizzy", coming 18th out of 25.
14 May: Manchester's Co-op Live venue finally opens after being beset by problems that delayed its launch.
17 May:
Sir Paul McCartney has become the first billionaire British musician according to the 2024 Sunday Times Rich List.
Girls Aloud embark on their concert tour The Girls Aloud Show, which the group called "a celebration of their music", as well as a tribute to deceased member Sarah Harding, who died from breast cancer in 2021.
21 May:
English National Opera announces the appointment of Jenny Mollica as its next chief executive officer (CEO), with immediate effect.
Glastonbury Festival reveals two new music venues, the Wishing Well and Scissors, which will make their debut at the 2024 Glastonbury Festival.
22 May: Organisers of the Challenge Festival, scheduled to take place at Bingley on 25 and 26 May, cancel the event, citing "unrealistic demands" being made on them.
24 May: The three-day BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend music festival gets underway in Luton, Bedfordshire, headlined by Chase & Status, Coldplay, Vampire Weekend, and Raye.
29 May: English Touring Opera announces that it is to relocate its headquarters to Sheffield, with the process commencing in the autumn of 2024.
2 June: The two-day Mighty Hoopla music festival gets underway in Brockwell Park, south east London, headlined by Jessie Ware, En Vogue and Nelly Furtado.
6 June: It is announced that the Birmingham Royal Ballet will perform on the Pyramid Stage at the 2024 Glastonbury Festival on 30 June.
11 June:
The alternative indie pop group Easy Life changes its name to Hard Life following a legal threat from the owners of EasyJet.
A 1974 Gibson Les Paul Custom guitar heard in Kate Bush's 1978 song "Wuthering Heights" sells at auction for £21,500.
14 June: Among those from the world of music to be recognised in the 2024 Birthday Honours are composer John Rutter and administrator Roger Wright (CBE), as well as singer Liz Mitchell and Duran Duran's Simon Le Bon, who both become MBEs.
26 June: The BBC announces presenter changes at Radio 3 effective April 2025, including:
The scheduled retirement of Sean Rafferty from In Tune
The naming of Petroc Trelawny as the new co-presenter of In Tune in place of Rafferty
The naming of Tom McKinney as the new presenter of the weekday Breakfast programme.
28 June: Dua Lipa plays the Pyramid Stage on the Friday night of Glastonbury 2024.
29 June:
Cyndi Lauper returns to Glastonbury, but her set is beset with sound problems that leaves the audience unable to hear her properly.
Coldplay make their record fifth Glastonbury appearance, as the Saturday night headline act. The set includes an appearance by the actor Michael J. Fox.
30 June: SZA appears as the Sunday night headline act at Glastonbury, but the performance is troubled by poor sound quality and audience appeal.
11 July:
Virgin Radio UK is named as the official radio station for CarFest, Latitude Festival and Hardwick Festival.
Welsh National Opera announces the appointments of Adele Thomas and Sarah Crabtree as joint holders of the posts of general director and chief executive officer, effective January 2025.
Scottish Ensemble announces that Jenny Jamison is to stand down as its chief executive.
16 July: The BBC announces the appointment of Jonathan Manners as director of the BBC Singers.
23 July: The Northern Chamber Orchestra announces the appointments of Zöe Beyers as its next music director and of Sarah Brandwood-Spencer as its new associate director.
9 August: A small number of people are injured following a crowd surge at the Boardmasters Festival in Newquay.
15 August: Ed Sheeran joins Taylor Swift on stage in London as a surprise guest as she begins the final part of the European leg of her Eras Tour.
24 August: HRH King Charles III announces the appointment of Errollyn Wallen as the next Master of the King's Music.
26 August: BBC Radio 1 celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Live Lounge with the top 25 performances from the series as voted for by its presenters. In top place is Amy Winehouse's 2007 cover of "Valerie", a song originally recorded by the Zutons.
27 August: Oasis announce that they will reform for performances in the UK and Ireland in July and August 2025, stating: "The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised."
29 August: At the 2024 BBC Proms, Anja Bihlmaier conducts the annual Proms appearance by Glyndebourne Festival Opera, of Georges Bizet's Carmen, the first female conductor ever to conduct the annual Glyndebourne Festival Opera Prom.
31 August: Tickets for Oasis's 2025 reunion concert tour go on general sale, and sell out within a matter of hours.
2 September: Several hundred people are reported to have made official complaints about the way tickets for the Oasis reunion tour were advertised, while the UK government says it will look into the issue of "dynamic pricing".
5 September:
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launches an investigation into the sale of Oasis tickets, following the band's announcement on 27 August and the use of "dynamic pricing".
Indie band English Teacher win the 2024 Mercury Prize for their debut album This Could Be Texas.
9 September: Sir John Eliot Gardiner announces the formation of a new orchestra and choir, the Constellation Orchestra and the Constellation Choir, under his leadership.
12 September: Wigmore Hall announces the prize recipients of its 2024 Wigmore Hall/Bollinger International Song Competition:
1st Prize: Anja Mittermüller, mezzo-soprano (the youngest-ever winner of the competition at age 20)
2nd Prize: Santiago Sánchez, tenor
3rd Prize: Jonathan Eyers, baritone
Pianist's Prize: Jong Sun Woo
Special Finalist Prize: Mathilde Orscheidt, mezzo-soprano
14 September: The Last Night of the Proms takes place at the Royal Albert Hall, featuring American soprano Angel Blue.
17 September: Supergrass announce a reunion tour for 2025 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of their debut album, I Should Coco.
18 September: The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic announces that Michael Eakin is to stand down as its chief executive in March 2025.
21 September: The 2024 Leeds International Piano Competition announces its prize recipients:
First Prize and the Dame Fanny Waterman Gold Medal: Jaeden Izik-Dzurko
Second Prize and the Marion Thorpe Silver Medal: Junyan Chen
Third Prize and the Lady Roslyn Lyons Bronze Medal: Khanh Nhi Luong
Fourth Prize: Kai-Min Chang
Fifth Prize: Julian Trevelyan
30 September: Oasis announces an American leg of its reunion tour, and that it will ditch dynamic pricing after it caused "an unacceptable experience" for UK fans trying to buy tickets.
3 October: It is announced that Newcastle will host the MOBO Awards for the first time in 2025.
8 October: Welsh rapper Lemfreck wins the 2024 Welsh Music Prize for his album Blood, Sweat and Fears.
11 October: Coldplay's 10th album, Moon Music, enters the UK Albums Chart at number one with sales of 237,000, and having outsold the combined total of albums in the rest of the top 40.
19–20 October: A series of vigils are held in the UK and elsewhere in the world for One Direction singer Liam Payne, who died in a fall from a hotel in Buenos Aires on 16 October.
20 October:
The BBC announces Ryan Wang as the winner of the BBC Young Musician 2024 competition.
Ozzy Osbourne is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist.
25 October: All five of One Direction's albums re-enter the UK Albums Chart following the death of Liam Payne.
5 November: Scottish Ensemble announces the appointment of James Hardie as its chief executive, effective January 2025.
6 November: Girls Aloud announce plans to release a new version of their cover of "I'll Stand by You" for Children in Need, with the lead vocals sung entirely by the late Sarah Harding, who died in 2021.
14 November: Myles Smith wins the 2024 BBC Introducing Artist of the Year Award.
21 November: The English National Opera announces its plans to relocate to Manchester, with the process to be completed by 2029.
23 November: Adele plays the 100th and final concert of her residency at Las Vegas's Caesars Palace.
24 November: Bassist Ursula Harrison is named BBC Young Jazz Musician 2024.
25 November: Sir Elton John tells ABC's Good Morning America he has been unable to finish his new album because of poor eyesight following an eye infection in July.
26 November: Rod Stewart is confirmed as being among the line up for Glastonbury 2025, and will play the Sunday teatime legends slot.
28 November: The Leeds International Piano Competition announces that Adam Gatehouse is to stand down as its artistic director in the spring of 2025.
29 November: The JG Windows music store in Newcastle's Central Arcade, described as the "cornerstone" of North East England's musical heritage for more than 100 years, has "closed permanently", its directors announce.
30 November: The Proclaimers perform at a memorial service for former first minister of Scotland Alex Salmond, held at Edinburgh's St Giles' Cathedral.
6 December:
The Royal Mint unveils a collector's edition £5 coin featuring Sir Paul McCartney.
Sean Rafferty presents his final broadcast of In Tune on BBC Radio 3.
9 December: Crispin Hunt is elected new President of the PRS Members’ Council, succeeding Michelle Escoffery from 1 January 2025.
19 December: Sir Paul McCartney reunites with his former Beatles bandmate Sir Ringo Starr during a gig at London's O2 Arena.
20 December: Wham!'s "Last Christmas" becomes Christmas number one for the second consecutive year, beating songs by Mariah Carey, Gracie Abrams, Tom Grennan and Ariana Grande.
31 December: BBC One is scheduled to see in the New Year with Sophie Ellis-Bextor, who will perform and host a "New Year Disco".
Classical Music
THOMAS ADÈS
Aquifer
JULIAN ANDERSON
String Quartet No. 4
Nothing At All (text adapted by PAUL GRIFFITHS from Hagoromo by Zeami Motokiyo)
RICHARD AYRES
No. 57 (K's Strange Day)
No. 58 (Bruckner)
CHARLOTTE BRAY
A Dark Doorway
ANNA CLYNE
ATLAS (for piano and orchestra)
The Gorgeous Nothings (texts by EMILY DICKINSON)
AMY CRANKSHAW
November moon readings
NATHAN JAMES DEARDEN
Messages
JONATHAN DOVE
Togetherness (for string quartet)
Odyssey (text by ALASDAIR MIDDLETON)
IAIN FARRINGTON
Extra Time
DELYTH FIELD
Shoegaze Capsule
MICHAEL FINNISSY
Was frag Ich nach der Welt
HELEN GRIME (music) and ZOE GILBERT (text)
Folk
GAVIN HIGGINS
Horn Concerto
SIMON HOLT
Serra-Sierra
Sir STEPHEN HOUGH
Piano Concerto ('World of Yesterday')
Piano Quintet
DANI HOWARD
Ascent
Three, Four AND...
STEPHEN JOHNSON
Unquiet Sleepers
DANIEL KIDANE
Aloud (violin concerto)
Sir JAMES MacMILLAN
Concerto for Orchestra (Ghosts)
Love Bade me Welcome (text by GEORGE HERBERT)
LUKE MOMBREA
Black Gold
JASMINE MORRIS
Ca'
BEN NOBUTO
Hallelujah Sim.
ELECTRA PERIVOLARIS
A Wave of Voices
MARK SIMPSON (clarinetist)
Hold Your Heart in Your Teeth (viola concerto)
FREYA WALEY-COHEN
Spell Book
ERROLLYN WALLEN
String Quintet
HUW WATKINS
Horn Concerto
Dame JUDITH WEIR
Planet
RYAN WIGGLESWORTH
Glasmelodien (after Mozart's Adagio in C, K.356)
RODERICK WILLIAMS (music) and ROMMI SMITH (texts)
Not Yet Here
Operas completed in 2023
Please address any comments concerning this page to The Music Maestro
Mark Chard BSc, PLY
Page created: 30th December 2024
Last edited: 31st December 2024
