6 January – Glyndebourne Festival Opera announces that its originally planned 2023 Glyndebourne on Tour season will not occur, as a result of the reduced funding from Arts Council England for the 2023–2026 National Portfolio.
9 January – The Royal Albert Hall announces the appointment of James Ainscough as its next chief executive director, effective in the late spring of 2023.
13 January – The BBC announces the appointment of Sam Jackson as the new controller of BBC Radio 3, effective April 2023.
17 January – Arts Council England (ACE) announces the presentation to English National Opera (ENO) of a one-year grant of £11.46M for the period of April 2023 – March 2024, following its previous November 2022 announcement of a total withdrawal of ACE's funding to ENO for the period 2023–2026 unless ENO relocates outside of London.
31 January – The Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation announces Sir George Benjamin as the recipient of the 2023 Ernst von Siemens Music Prize.
February
1 February – In an interview on Finnish Radio, Sir Mark Elder states that he is to stand down as music director of The Hallé in August 2024, at the close of the 2023–2024 season..
11 February – Pensacola Christian College in the USA cancels a concert appearance by The King's Singers two hours before the scheduled performance time, after objections from a group of students, parents and college staff to the presence of homosexuals in the ensemble.
24 March – The BBC announces a reversal of its intended closure of the BBC Singers, following public reactions in protest at the original 7 March 2023 announcement.
12 April – Opera North announces the appointment of Laura Canning as its next general director, the first woman named to the post, effective December 2023.
16 April – Vox Urbane performs its inaugural concert at the Asylum Chapel in Peckham, London.
5 May – The official build-up to the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest begins in Liverpool with a concert by Ukraine's Kalush Orchestra to open the fans village.
The BBC Concert Orchestra announces the appointment of Anna-Maria Helsing as its next chief conductor, the first female conductor to be named to the post and the first female conductor to be named chief conductor of any BBC orchestra, effective 1 October 2023, with an initial contract of three seasons.
King's Birthday Honours:
Kathryn McDowell is made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
Ivor Bolton and Tasmin Little are each made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).
20 June – The Hallé announces the appointment of Wong Kah Chun as its next principal conductor and artistic advisor, effective with the 2024–2025 season, with an initial contract of 5 seasons.
Rick Astley plays the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury 2023.
Guns N' Roses headline the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury 2023.
25 June – Elton John plays the final UK concert of his farewell tour at Glastonbury 2023, headlining the Pyramid Stage on the festival's final day.
27 June – Lewis Capaldi announces a sabbatical from touring for the "foreseeable future" after struggling to finish his set at Glastonbury 2023.
29 June – National Youth Orchestras of Scotland announce the appointment of Catherine Larsen-Maguire to the newly created post of music director, effective 2024, with an initial tenure of 3 years.
27 July – Arts Council England announces an additional £24M grant for English National Opera from the period of April 2024 – March 2026, with an extended time frame to March 2029 for relocation of the company outside of London.
Hyperion Records announces that it is to make available for streaming access 200 albums from its catalogue, for the first time in the company's history.
20 August – The UK government gives the go ahead to plans for a northern version of London's BRIT School, based in Bradford.
23 August – An advertisement for a fictional glass repair business in the Hackney Gazette is believed to be a teaser for a new Rolling Stones album as it contains several references to the band's past songs.
24 August – Conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner pulls out of the BBC Proms after being accused of assaulting a singer who left the podium in the wrong direction during a concert in France.
31 August – Sir John Eliot Gardiner announces his withdrawal from his remaining 2023 concert engagements to seek psychological treatment, following his striking of bass William Thomas on 22 August at the Festival Berlioz in La Côte-Saint-André, France.
Lambeth Council gives the O2 Academy Brixton the go-ahead to reopen once the venue has met 77 "extensive and robust" conditions "designed to promote public safety".
20 September – The BBC announces the winners of its BBC Young Composer 2023 competition:
Lower Junior Category (age 12–14)
Atharv Gupta – Demain, Dès L'Aube
Avram Harris – Across the Void
Upper Junior Category (age 15–16)
Advaith Jagannath – Saturn Devouring his Son
Pascal Bachmann – Étude-Grotesque
Senior Category (age 17–18)
Jamie Smith – Into Oblivion
Reese Carly Manglicmot – Rumble
21 September – LIVE, the voice of the UK's live music industry, appoints Steve Lamacq as its new Chair.
4 October – The Snug in Atherton, Greater Manchester, is the first grassroots gig venue to benefit from the Music Venue Trust's "Own Our Properties" plan, where music fans can invest in venues to save them from increasing rents and closure.
In parallel with his appointment to the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Bill Chandler is to stand down as director of the BBC Concert Orchestra, as of December 2023.
The BBC announces the appointment of Adam Szabo as director of the BBC Philharmonic, effective February 2024.
Manchester Collective announces that Adam Szabo is to stand down as its artistic director and chief executive, effective January 2024.
27 October – The Dartington College of Arts announces that its planned 2024 summer school season is on hold, and the resignation of Sara Mohr-Pietsch and the summer school staff, with immediate effect.
"Now and Then", described by the surviving members of The Beatles as their "last song", receives its public premiere.
The sale of tickets for the 2024 Glastonbury Festival is delayed for two weeks "out of fairness" to customers who did not realise their registration had expired.
3 November – The re-recorded version of Taylor Swift's album 1989 becomes the fastest selling album of 2023, selling 184,000 copies in the UK in its week of release, more than doubling the sales of the original version released in 2014.
7 November –
The Barbican Centre announces the appointment of Helen Wallace as its new head of music, effective February 2024.
Kings Place announces that Helen Wallace is to stand down as its artistic and executive director at the close of January 2024.
English National Ballet announces the appointment of Maria Seletskaja as its next music director, effective with the 2024–2025 season.
Arcangelo announces the appointment of Sir Nicholas Kenyon as its next chair of trustees, effective March 2024.
Remastered versions of The Beatles' Red Album and Blue Album are released to coincide with the issue of their final track, "Now and Then", which is included on the release.
"Now and Then" tops the UK Singles Chart, giving The Beatles the longest gap between the first and last number one.
16 November – Oxford Brookes University announces the scheduled closure of its music department and the shuttering of its music programmes in 2026.
17 November – The new versions of The Beatles' Red Album and Blue Album are beaten to the top of the UK Album Chart by Taylor Swift's 1989 (Taylor's Version), putting them in the same position as the original 1973 release of the albums, which were beaten to number one by David BowieYoung Americans. The Blue Album reaches number two, while the Red Album reaches number three, the same positions they were at in 1973.
19 November – Tickets for Glastonbury 2024 go on sale at 9.00am, and sell out within an hour.
Organisers of the BRIT Awards announce they will update the rules for the 2024 Awards ceremony following controversy over the introduction of gender neutral awards when no female artists were nominated for Best Artist. The list of nominations for the prize will be expanded from five to ten. There will also be a prize for Best R'n'B Act.
30 November – The Bristol Beacon music venue, previously known as Colston Hall, reopens after refurbishment and five years after it closed for repairs.
December
4 December – Glyndebourne Festival Opera announces the appointment of Adam Hickox as the new principal conductor of Glyndebourne Sinfonia, with immediate effect.
5 December – English National Opera announces Greater Manchester as the site of its planned new headquarters.
8 December – A total of 28 of the 40 songs in the week's Official Top 40 are festive songs, with "Last Christmas" by Wham! reaching number one for a fourth time.
Don Black and Lady Robey are each made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
James Ainscough, Paul Burger, Laurence Cummings, Michael Eakin, Yvette Griffith, and Carolyn Sampson are each made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
Margaret Archibald, Wiliam Hutton, Christopher Kent, Bernard Vause, William Watson, Martin White, and Jonathan Willcocks are each awarded the British Empire Medal.
This chart was published by the Official Charts Company on January 3, 2024
For the first time in British music history, an album that never reached number one on the weekly chart became the biggest-selling album of the year. The Highlights, by The Weeknd, also sold all its albums in digital and streaming formats.
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