Harmonious winners
This year’s Royal Philharmonic Society Awards recipients
Chamber-scale Composition
Laura Bowler: Wicked Problems
A setting of Timothy Morton’s Dark Ecology, performed by flautist Ruth Morley and composer and vocalist Laura Bowler, Wicked Problems premiered in October 2020. Ensemble
Dunedin Consort
Under music director John Butt, the Scottish ensemble, which specialises in Baroque repertoire, receives this year’s award as it celebrates its 25th anniversary. Gamechanger
Bold Tendencies
Since 2007, Bold Tendencies has held events at a multi-story car park in Peckham, south London. This open-air venue really came into its own with the pandemic, including a performance of Brahms’s piano concertos. Impact
ENO Breathe
English National Opera’s nationwide project has offered practical therapy and support to Long Covid sufferers, including our own Rebecca Franks who wrote about its work in the November issue of BBC Music Magazine. Inspiration
Hilary Campbell (conductor) and Bristol Choral Society
Launched this year, this award for a nonprofessional ensemble is voted for by the general public.
Instrumentalist
Nicola Benedetti (violin)
This widely acclaimed and much-loved Scottish violinist did not break her pace even through lockdown, continuing her early music summer school online and to speak up on behalf of the industry. Large-scale Composition
Dani Howard: Trombone Concerto Featured in our ‘Meet the Composer’ interview last month, Dani Howard is now the winner of the award for a work that, played by Peter Moore, was hailed by Richard Morrison as an ‘instant classic’ when it was premiered in June 2021.
Opera and Music Theatre
Vopera: L’enfant et les sortilèges
This imaginative online production of Ravel’s opera very much reflected the nightmarish times of the pandemic and lockdowns of the past 18 months.
Series and Events
Chorus of Royal Northern Sinfonia: The World How Wide
Another response to lockdown was this re-imagining of Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis; each singer recorded their track, subsequently combined to create a virtual a cappella choir. Singer
Jennifer Johnston
The Liverpudlian mezzo-soprano, previously winner of the RPS Enterprise Award, has impressed critics in the UK and abroad as a performer but has also been both tireless and enterprising in her drive to raise funds for musicians during lockdown. Storytelling
Kadiatu Kanneh-mason:
House of Music
The category, formerly dedicated to books, has been extended to cover broadcasts and podcasts. This year’s winner, though, is a book – the inspiring tale written by the mother of seven musically gifted children. Young Artist
The Hermes Experiment
Héloïse Werner (voice and co-director),
Anne Denholm (harp), Oliver Pashley (clarinet), Marianne Schofield (double bass) and Hanna Grzeskiewicz (co-director) triumphed even through lockdown and have just released their second album, Song.