On Monday February 12th Manfred Eicher was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in London, a rare distinction for a recording producer.
Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, Principal of the Royal Academy, introduced Manfred Eicher as follows:
“Under the terms of its Royal Charter of 1830, the Academy has the power to confer honours on distinguished musicians. The roll call of honorands reads like a musical directory of the last two centuries, including Mendelssohn, Liszt, Stravinsky, Casals, and – from our own era – Sir Simon Rattle, Placido Domingo, Martha Argerich and Sir Harrison Birtwistle. Honorary Fellowship of the Academy is limited to 100 distinguished individuals who have rendered signal service to the music profession.
I have great pleasure in presenting Manfred Eicher, who is to receive Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Music.
In the history of recorded music there have been very few producers who names alone immediately conjure up a particular aesthetic and sound. Manfred Eicher is one of this select company. Just as remarkably, he has personally produced the vast majority of the more than 1500 albums released by his own label, the ‘Edition of Contemporary Music’ or ECM. […] “
Read the complete citation for Manfred Eicher’s Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Music here.