This year’s Royal Philharmonic Society Awards recipients
Chamber-Scale Composition Laurence Osborn – TOMB!
Osborn’s work is a tombeau – in which ‘a living artist honours a dead one by impersonating their voice’. Composed with ‘great admiration’ for the past, the piece also ‘questions the morbid obsessions of heritage culture’.
Conductor François-Xavier Roth Principal guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and founder of Les Siècles, which in 2023 celebrated its 20th birthday, Roth will become chief conductor of the SWR Symphonieorchester in 2025.
Ensemble BBC Singers Following a high-profile 2023 campaign to save them from closure, the BBC Singers mark their 100th anniversary in 2024. The UK’s only full-time professional choir, they broadcast and commission regularly, and are frequent performers at the BBC Proms.
Impact
Call of the Mountains – Clare Johnston and Drake Music Scotland A collaboration between musicians from Kazakhstan and Drake Music Scotland, Clare Johnston’s work features iPads and traditional kol-kobyz alongside violins, cello, flute, clarinet and piano.
Inspiration
Derwent Brass
This innovative and diverse Midlands ensemble aims to step beyond the bounds of the traditional brass band with its ambitious programming and wide-ranging repertoire – forged through strong relationships with its associate composers.
Large-Scale Composition
Kaija Saariaho – Innocence Jointly commissioned by the major opera companies of Amsterdam, Helsinki, San Francisco and London, the late Saariaho’s powerful work delves into the aftermath of a school shooting. The opera received its UK premiere in April 2023.
Opera and Music Theatre
Chornobyldorf – Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival Focusing on the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe, this work by Ukra
