Born in Scotland in 1926, Sir Alexander Gibson studied at Glasgow University and at the Royal College of Music where in 1951 he was awarded the Queen’s Prize. He went on to attend the Salzburg Mozarteum before going to Siena to work at the Accademia Chigiano, and at the 1952 Besançon Festival was awarded the Enesco Prize for young conductors. Between 1951 and 1957 he held posts as repetiteur and later Staff Conductor at Sadler’s Wells Theatre; from 1951 to 1954 he was Assistant Conductor of the BBC Scottish Orchestra, and in 1957 became Music Director of the Sadler’s Wells Opera Company. Two years later he was appointed Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Scottish National Orchestra, and tours through Europe and North America and many recordings contributed greatly to raising that Orchestra’s international prestige. Having founded Scottish Opera in 1962, he began to appear more widely as a symphonic conductor with British and international orchestras. He made his debut with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 1970 and became Principal Guest Conductor of the Houston Symphony Orchestra in 1981. He was made a CBE in 1967, knighted in 1977, and became president of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music in 1991. Sir Alexander Gibson died in 1995.