Patrick Charles Carnegy, 15th Earl of Northesk (born 23 September 1940[1]), is a British hereditary peer, journalist and scholar.
Northesk is the son of The Reverend Canon Patrick Charles Alexander Carnegy and Joyce Eleanor Townsley.[2] He is an agnatic descendant of David Carnegie, 2nd Earl of Northesk, and inherited the earldom on the death of his eighth cousin once removed, David Carnegie, 14th Earl of Northesk, on 28 March 2010.[3] [4]
Northesk was educated at Rugby School and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, matriculating in 1960.[5]
Northesk was assistant editor of The Times Literary Supplement (TLS) between 1969 and 1978. As a broadcaster, he was a regular contributor in the 1970s and 1980s to the BBC Radio 4 arts magazine Kaleidoscope. Contributions to BBC Radio 3 have included documentaries on Thomas Mann, Franz Kafka, the Barenboim/Kupfer Ring at Bayreuth (1988),[6] and the first assessment of the Ring on DVD for CD Review (2008) Radio 3's CD Review.[7] For television he contributed to BBC 2's documentary film Wagner in the Great Composers series (1998).
In 1988 he was invited by Jeremy Isaacs to create the post of Dramaturg (literary and repertory adviser) at the Royal Opera House. There he initiated a programme of lectures, study days and other events open to all. He was awarded a Leverhulme Research Fellowship (1994–1996).
He was a founding member of the Bayreuth International Arts Centre and served on the BBC Central Music Advisory Committee (1986–1989) and on the BBC General Advisory Council (1990–1996).
His books include Faust as Musician: A Study of Thomas Mann’s novel ‘Doctor Faustus’ (1973) and Wagner and the Art of the Theatre (2006, Royal Philharmonic Soc Award, Special Jury Prize George Freedley Memorial Award), which took 40 years to write.[8] Other publications include reviews and articles on German literature, music, opera (especially Wagner) and theatre for The Times Literary and Educational Supplements, the London Review of Books, The Spectator, Opera, The Musical Times, and other journals.
Lord Northesk lives with his wife, soprano Jill Gomez, in Cambridgeshire. They have no children.
The heir presumptive to the earldom is Lord Northesk's younger brother, Colin David Carnegy (born 1942).