Joining distinguished musicians such as Bryn Terfel and Antonio Pappano in the most recent Queen’s Birthday Honours List, Jeffrey Tate was knighted by Prince William last week for services to British music overseas.

Australian audiences will know the 73-year-old British maestro as the Principal Guest Conductor and Artistic Adviser of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, while internationally he is best known as the chief conductor of the Hamburg Symphony and the first person to hold the title of principal conductor at Covent Garden. “It feels a little unreal, as if the person ‘Sir Jeffrey Tate’ is someone other than myself: it will take some time to get used to it”, he told Limelight.

Tate is hopeful about what the recognition means for classical music. “Of course, one is very moved to have been chosen, and I am happy that classical music is still considered important enough to be so honoured: this keeps the art in the public eye at a time when many fear a decline in interest”.

On what the honour means for his career, he was refreshingly frank. “Unquestionably, it will bring my name back into focus, and I am already noticing this in the range of requests for concerts and operas...