The Sunday Times has reported that the composer Judith Weir to succeed Sir Peter Maxwell Davies as Master of the Queen’s Music will be Judith Weir. There has been no formal announcement of the appointment (that is not due for another month) but the story has been picked up by most major news outlets.

If the rumour is true, and if the Royal Household doesn’t decide to change its mind between now and the official announcement, Weir will become the first female composer to be given the role. Previous holders of the position include John Stanley, William Parsons, Elgar,Bax, Bliss and Malcolm Williamson.

Weir’s music has been well-received in Gramophone. As Arnold Whittall noted in a review of Weir’s choral music in December 2011: ‘Judith Weir has always been well able to conform to the conventions of, say, the King’s College Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols without losing all sense of identity and purpose in the process.’ An adaptability Weir will need to draw on should her rumoured Royal appointment become a reality.