Sibelius founders score twin OBEs for services to software technology
London, June 21, 2007 – Sibelius founders and musicians Ben and Jonathan Finn have been awarded the OBE (Officer of the British Empire) by Her Majesty the Queen for services to Software Technology. The honours offer the most prestigious recognition to date for the twin brothers, who founded Sibelius Software in 1993 with just £3000 and have since established the company as the world’s market leader in music notation software, revolutionizing how music is written and taught around the world.
The OBE awards coincide with the launch of Sibelius 5, the latest version of the company’s flagship notation program. The powerful yet easy-to-use software is now used by more of the world’s schools, universities and conservatoires than any other music notation software, as well as by professional composers and arrangers across the world. Recent noteworthy Sibelius projects have included Grammy and Oscar-winning productions Casino Royale, The Last King of Scotland, The Beatles’ LOVE and The Dixie Chicks’ Taking The Long Way – winner of the Best Album and Record of the Year Grammys.
While a music student at Oxford University, Jonathan Finn, a composer, bassoonist and pianist, developed the original Sibelius program with twin brother Ben, a composer, tenor and pianist who was studying at Cambridge University and had also studied composition at the Royal College of Music, London. They had both previously been choristers in King’s College Choir, Cambridge, and taught themselves computer programming at school.
The twins co-founded Sibelius in 1993, with Jonathan specializing in the technical side of the business and Ben handling the sales and marketing side.
The brothers have won numerous accolades in recognition of Sibelius’ contribution to music, including the prestigious Gold Badge Award from the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters.
Celebrating the news, Ben and Jonathan told us, “When we first started Sibelius back in 1993, we never imagined we might one day be receiving an OBE from the Queen at Buckingham Palace or that Sibelius would grow to the size it is now. We look forward to even better and brighter things in the future and want to thank all the musicians, music teachers and students whose support and feedback has helped shape our products and success.”
About Sibelius
- Sibelius is the world’s market leader in music notation software.
- Sibelius was founded in 1993 to sell music notation software for initially the Acorn computer and was released for Windows and Mac in 1998/99.
- Since then the Sibelius Group has developed 20 additional music products for the professional, educational and home user, ranging from Internet publishing to guitar software.
- Sibelius has customers in over 100 countries.
- Sibelius is used in 60% of schools in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
- Sibelius is endorsed by the Royal Academy of Music and is used by all the major music academies and colleges: the Royal College of Music, Trinity College of Music, Oxford and Cambridge Universities, the Juilliard School, Berklee School of Music, the Sibelius Academy in Finland, the Royal College of Music in Stockholm.
- The world’s leading music publishers including Music Sales, Hal Leonard and Yamaha use Sibelius.
- In 2005, Sibelius was awarded a prestigious Queen’s Award for Innovation.
- Sibelius was recently acquired by Avid Technology Inc the worldwide leaders in digital media editing and creation solutions. Sibelius is part of of Avid’s Audio division which also includes Digidesign, producers of Pro Tools, and M Audio.
Sibelius is headquartered in London, UK, with offices in San Francisco, Adelaide and Tokyo.
21 June 2007
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All information correct at time of press release.
For further information please contact Sibelius.
