(Photo credit: RPS)

Sir Humphrey McGuire Burton CBE, classical music television presenter, director, producer, impresario, and music historian has passed away. He was 94.

Burton was born on March 25, 1931 in Trowbridge, Wiltshire. He spent 18 months of national service in the Royal Corps of Signals before studying music and history at Fitzwilliam House, Cambridge. after graduating in 1954, he spent a year in France researching musical life in the 18th century, before joining BBC Radio as a trainee studio manager in 1955.

In 1958, he transferred to BBC Television, joining the production team of the new arts program, “Monitor.” From here, Burton helped spearhead the BBC’s preparation for the opening of BBC2 which launched in April 1964. The following year, he was appointed the BBC’s first Head of Music and Arts. A role he would receive BAFTA’s top award of the year (1965) for creativity in music programming. He then worked for eight years in commercial television, being one of the founder members of London Weekend Television.

Once returning to the BBC, Burton became the editor of performance programs and director of Proms and opera relays from the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Glyndebourne, and Scottish Opera. Here, he directed the world premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Requiem” and produced “The Making of West Side Story.” This led to a 20-year collaboration between Burton and Bernstein.

Burton is credited for directing over 170 documentaries and filmed concerts, including cycles of symphonies by Mahler, Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms and many others. He was guest director of the Hollywood Bowl in 1983 and director of Tanglewood’s “70th Bernstein Birthday Bash.” Later in his career, Burton worked in the US and Europe as director and/or program presenter of classical music for Classic FM and Radio 3. He went on to write musician biographies such as, “Leonard Bernstein – A Life,” “Yehudi Menuhin,” and “William Walton – The Romantic Loner” (co-authored with Maureen Murray).

He was awarded four Emmies and two British Academy Television Awards, the Royal Television Society’s silver medal and a Sony Gold Award. In 2020, Burton was knighted at the New Year Honours for services to classical music, the arts and the media.

Burton passed away on Dec. 17 at home.