Pablo Heras-Casado has been awarded the title Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government.

The title was presented to him by the French Ambassador to Spain, Yves Saint-Geours, in a ceremony that took place at his official residence in Madrid on Dec. 3, 2018.

The prestigious award was presented to Heras-Casado in recognition of “a dazzling, diverse and intense career with an essential link to French music, insatiable curiosity, audacity and fierce struggle for culture from the common values of building and broadcasting it.”

The award ceremony also included a surprise performance by a chamber choir singing Fauré’s “Cantique de Jean Racine,” Op. 11., and Flamenco singer Marina Heredia, who interpreted music by de Falla and Lorca.

The Order of Arts and Letters is a decoration awarded by the Republic of France to “artists, writers or intellectuals who have distinguished themselves for their creations in the artistic or literary domain, or for the contribution they have made to the splendor of the arts and letters in France and in the world.”