New role for Chair of Governors

Michael Elliott has been announced as the next Chief Executive of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music.

He is currently the Chief Executive of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. He will take up his new role in January 2015.

Michael said: “I’m delighted to have been appointed as Chief Executive of ABRSM. It’s a world-class organisation and I look forward to leading it in its next phase of development.”

Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wolverhampton, Professor Geoff Layer, said: “We’d like to congratulate Michael on this exciting new role at the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. We wish him every success.”

Michael Elliott has been the University’s Chair of the Board of Governors since 2010 and a Governor since 1997.

He has been Chief Executive of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra since 2011 and before that had responsibility in the senior civil service for cultural policy, including music education, when he was Director, Culture, at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. In the 1990s he was Chief Executive of West Midlands Arts Board and then the Heart of England Tourist Board. From 2001 to 2008, he was Chief Executive of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and acted as Associate Cultural Director for Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture in 2008.

The Associated Board of the Royal School of Music is by far the most popular music examination organisation in the world. Each year, over 650,000 people in 97 countries worldwide take Associated Board Exams.

ENDS

For more information please contact Vickie Warren in the Media Relations Office on 01902 322736.

Date Issued: Thursday, 26 June 2014