Among her many positions, Dame Jane Glover is Felix Mendelssohn Emeritus Professor of Music at the Royal Academy of Music, London. Before embarking on a lifetime career as a conductor in opera houses and concert halls throughout the world, Dame Jane's postgraduate studies were largely spent in Venice, and led to her doctoral thesis (“The Teatro Sant’Apollinare and the Development of Seventeenth-century Venetian Opera”, Oxford 1976), her first book, “Cavalli” (1978), and her own edition performances of several Venetian operas (Monteverdi's Ulisse and Poppea, Cavalli's Rosinda, Eritrea, Didone, Giasone and Eliogabalo). Dame Jane is the author of Mozart's Women (2005) and Handel in London (2018). In 2013, she became the third woman ever to conduct at the New York’s Metropolitan Opera, in a production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute.

Earlier this year, Dame Jane was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Gamechanger Award for her work in bringing more female conductors to the stage. As a music professor, Dame Jane has previously held positions as director of opera at the Royal Academy of Music and visiting professor of opera at the University of Oxford. She has been a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) since the 2003 New Year’s Honours.

On hearing the news, Dame Jane said:

"I am completely thrilled with this award  -  and not a little amazed.  During a time of enormous challenge to the nation, and the world, and of course to our own profession, I confess I do now have a little spring in my step.  But I realise of course that a conductor is nothing without other musicians, and I am so grateful to all musicians who have collaborated with me in the past forty or so years."

Dame Jane sets out her vision of the Teatro San Cassiano

Image credit: Jim Steere