Andrew Lloyd Webber's thrilled he's to be honoured with the Special Recognition prize at the Classic BRIT Awards.
Andrew Lloyd Webber
The 70-year-old composing legend will receive the accolade for his contribution to the world of Musical Theatre and Education at the returning awards ceremony at London's iconic Royal Albert Hall on June 13.
The theatre impresario launched his own Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation in 1992, to support emerging artists and the provision of music education, performing arts training, and heritage skills across the UK.
Since 2010, the charity has been awarded over £19 million and donated £2.4 million to the Music in Secondary Schools Trust, enabling more than 6,500 children across London to receive free classical music instruments opportunities to perform.
On the honour, he said: "Now that I am 70 I look back and think how lucky I have been.
"You are very lucky if you know what you want to do in life.
"I am doubly lucky that I not only have made a living out of my passion but a hugely rewarding one.
"I hope through my Foundation that I am able to give something back to the profession that has been so good to me.
"I am a passionate believer in the importance of the arts in schools, particularly music, which transcends all languages, shades of politics, race and creeds.
"In our increasingly dangerous and fractured world, the arts have never been as vital as they are today and they should be free."
Webber - who has composed 13 musicals both in the West End and on Broadway - has been vocal about national cuts to music tuition over the years, hailing it a "national scandal".
Classic BRIT Awards co-chair Rebecca Allen commented: "Our business is built on exceptional artists, without exceptional artists we are nothing.
"It is our responsibility, our duty to seek out and support these artists, and without music being supported in schools, our bloodline stops. The work Andrew Lloyd Webber and his team do to support music in schools is significant and we as an industry must acknowledge and applaud this, for without support like this in schools, our industry will falter."
The Classic BRIT Awards return after a five-year break, with Andrea Bocelli, Michael Ball and Alfie Boe's double act Ball & Boe, Sir Bryn Terfel and Tokio Myers are all performing on the night.
British music legend Dame Vera Lynn is to be honoured as the Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.
The ceremony will be broadcast on ITV and in partnership with Classic FM, and will celebrate music from the world of classical, film, television, theatre and games.
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