John Butt awarded honorary doctorate by Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
John Butt OBE, musical director of Dunedin Consort and one of the leading figures in historically informed performance, is to receive an honorary doctorate from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
The conductor, organist, harpsichordist and scholar will be honoured at RCS’s summer graduation on Thursday 2 July 2026, where around 300 students will graduate across music, drama, dance, production, film and education.
Butt is widely recognised for his work on 17th- and 18th-century music, particularly Bach, and for his contribution to the understanding and performance of Baroque repertoire. He was Gardiner Professor of Music at the University of Glasgow from 2001 to 2024, where he continues as an Honorary Professorial Research Fellow.
His career includes major recordings with Dunedin Consort, including award-winning accounts of Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem and works by Bach, Monteverdi and Handel. He has appeared at the BBC Proms and Edinburgh International Festival and has conducted orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra and Academy of St Martin in the Fields.
Butt has also worked closely with RCS in recent years. In 2024, he conducted the conservatoire’s opera production of Idomeneo and will return for Così fan tutte, the first co-presentation between Scottish Opera and RCS’s new Advanced Artist Diploma in Opera programme.
John Butt said, ‘I am extraordinarily honoured to receive an honorary doctorate from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. I was determined to build links when I arrived at the University of Glasgow in 2001 and am delighted to have had an increasingly strong connection with the RCS over the last few years, particularly with the current partnership with the Dunedin Consort.’
Professor Jeffrey Sharkey, Principal of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, said Butt had ‘transformed how we understand and perform some of the most important music of the 17th and 18th centuries’.
RCS will also award an honorary doctorate in dance to choreographer Christopher Bruce CBE, long associated with Rambert Dance Company, and a Fellowship to cultural advocate and arts leader Roberta Doyle in recognition of her contribution to Scotland’s cultural life.