Tessa King-Farlow (born 2 February 1941) is a British garden designer, former chair of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, and former High Sheriff of the West Midlands.
Tessa King-Farlow was educated at Downe House School. She moved to Birmingham in 1967. She studied English Language at the University of Birmingham as a mature student, graduating with a BA degree. Farlow-King was High Sheriff of the West Midlands from 2001 to 2002. She was chair of the Royal Opera House Benevolent Fund, and remains on its Board. She was chair of Birmingham Royal Ballet from 2004 to 2009 and had been a member of the board. She was a governor of the Royal Ballet School and of Elmhurst School for Dance. She was a Justice of the Peace on the Birmingham Bench. She was chair of the Council of St Philip's Cathedral, Birmingham, from 2003 to 2004. She was also a member of the Advisory Committee of Birmingham Botanical Gardens, of the board of the City of Birmingham Touring Opera, of the board of Ikon Gallery, and of the board of Kings Norton Community Development Trust. She was trustee of Music in May at St Ives. She is a current trustee of the Sacconi Trust. King-Farlow was awarded the Honorary degree of Doctor of Music (DMus) by the University of Birmingham in 2009. She is a trustee of the Friends of Vauxhall Park. [1] [2] [3]
The Royal Ballet and Opera, formerly the Royal Opera House (ROH), is a historic opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. The first theatre on the site, the Theatre Royal (1732), served primarily as a playhouse for the first hundred years of its history. In 1734, the first ballet was presented. A year later, the first season of operas, by George Frideric Handel, began. Many of his operas and oratorios were specifically written for Covent Garden and had their premieres there.
Tessa Ann Vosper Blackstone, Baroness Blackstone, is an English politician and university administrator.
Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) is one of the five major ballet companies of the United Kingdom, alongside The Royal Ballet, the English National Ballet, Northern Ballet and Scottish Ballet. Founded as the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet, the company was established in 1946 as a sister company to the earlier Sadler's Wells company, which moved to the Royal Opera House that same year, subsequently becoming known as The Royal Ballet.
The Royal Ballet School is a British school of classical ballet training founded in 1926 by the Anglo-Irish ballerina and choreographer Ninette de Valois. The school's aim is to train and educate outstanding classical ballet dancers, especially for the Royal Ballet and the Birmingham Royal Ballet.
Lilian Mary Baylis CH was an English theatrical producer and manager. She managed the Old Vic and Sadler's Wells theatres in London and ran an opera company, which became the English National Opera (ENO); a theatre company, which evolved into the English National Theatre; and a ballet company, which eventually became The Royal Ballet.
The Birmingham Hippodrome is a theatre situated on Hurst Street in the Chinese Quarter of Birmingham, England.
Glenn Paul Howells is a British architect and a director and founder of Howells.
Anthony William Hall, Baron Hall of Birkenhead, is a British life peer. He was Director-General of the BBC between April 2013 and August 2020, and chaired the board of trustees of the National Gallery from September 2020 to May 2021.
Robert Gavron, Baron Gavron was a British printing millionaire, philanthropist and a Labour life peer.
Dame Barbara Jean Lyon Mills DBE, QC was a British barrister. She held various senior public appointments including Director of Public Prosecutions, and was widely seen as a pioneer for women gaining such appointments in the higher echelons of the legal profession. At the time of her death she was chair of the Professional Oversight Board.
Sir Simon Peter Edmund Cosmo William Towneley was a British author who served as Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire from 1976 to 1997.
Pauline Perry, Baroness Perry of Southwark is an educator, educationist, academic, and activist. She is a Conservative politician and was for 25 years a working member of the British House of Lords. In 1981 she became Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools in England. In 1986 she became Vice-Chancellor of South Bank Polytechnic, and serving during its transition to a university, became the first woman in history to run a British university.
Sir David Julian Bintley is an English former ballet dancer, the artistic director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, and co-artistic director of the New National Theatre Tokyo ballet company.
William Robert Miller CBE was a British-born businessman who was vice-chairman of Bristol-Myers Squibb until 1990. Subsequently, he has become a philanthropist and supporter of scientific, artistic, educational and ecclesiastical causes.
Sir David Hugh Wootton is an English lawyer and politician. He was the 684th Lord Mayor of London, from 2011 to 2012, and is was Alderman of the Ward of Langbourn until 2nd November 2024, when he retired from the Court of Aldermen. .
Dame Parveen June Kumar is a British doctor who is a Professor of Medicine and Education at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry. She worked in the NHS for over 40 years as a consultant gastroenterologist and physician at Barts and the London Hospitals and the Homerton University Hospital. She was the President of the British Medical Association in 2006, of the Royal Society of Medicine from 2010 to 2012, of the Medical Women's Federation from 2016 to 2018 and of the Royal Medical Benevolent Fund from 2013 to 2020. She was also Vice President of the Royal College of Physicians from 2003 to 2005. In addition, she was a founding non-executive director of the National Institute of Clinical Excellence, chaired the Medicines Commission UK until 2005, and also chaired the BUPA Foundation Charity for Research until 2013.
Classical music in Birmingham began in the late Middle Ages, mainly devotional music which did not survive the Reformation. Evidence is scant until the years following the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, when Birmingham's economy boomed. This was reflected in the scientific and cultural awakening known as the Midlands Enlightenment. The first sign of this transformation was the opening of the baroque St Philip's Church in 1715, which had a fine organ that attracted gifted musicians to the town.
Christopher Stuart Nourse is a British arts administrator.
David Lovell Burbidge, was Chairman of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) & chaired the successful Sounds of the Future Campaign to raise £12.5m, former chairman of the Coventry City of Culture Trust having led the successful campaign to win the 2021 UK City of Culture title, Chairman of Burbidge & Son Ltd and also a deputy lieutenant of the West Midlands, former board member of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), founding chairman of Furniture Makers Hall and Freeman of the City of London (1979).
Sian Eleri Angharad Westerman is a British banker and co-chair of the BFC Fashion Trust. She is a trustee of the Royal Academy Trust which supports the Royal Academy of Arts, and a past trustee of English National Ballet.