The shortlists for the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards have been announced.
Presented in association with BBC Radio 3 and recognising live classical music, the RPS Music Awards will be held on May 9 at London’s The Brewery. Andrew McGregor and Sarah Walker from BBC Radio 3 will host the ceremony. Pianist Stephen Hough will present the winners’ trophies.
BBC Radio 3 will broadcast a special RPS Music Awards programme at 7:30pm on May 14.
Honouring musicians, composers, writers, broadcasters and arts organisations, the 13 categories are decided by industry panels.
Prominent among this year’s categories are awards for conductor, singer, instrumentalist, composition and young artist.
Mirga Gražinyte?-Tyla, Richard Farnes and Donald Runnicles feature among the nominees for Conductor, while Allan Clayton, Christine Rice and Karita Mattila are up for the Singer category.
Pierre-Laurent Aimard, James Ehnes and Alissa Weilerstein represent instrumentalists, and Anders Hillborg, Enno Poppe, Philip Venables, Liza Lim, Rebecca Saunders and Mark Simpson are nominated in the Composer section. The names in the Young Artist category are: conductors Andrew Gourlay and Mirga Gražinyte?-Tyla, pianist Joseph Middleton and soprano Héloïse Werner.
Among the regional events and organisations represented on the shortlists are the Welsh National Opera, Opera North, Garsington Opera, Ulster Orchestra, Birmingham Opera, the Leeds Lieder Festival, Cheltenham Music Festival, Lammermuir Festival, East Neuk Festival, South West Open Youth Orchestra and Age UK Oxfordshire.
John Gilhooly, chairman of the Royal Philharmonic Society said: “This year, the RPS Music Awards jurors were struck by the depth of quality and imagination of artists and organisations from right across the country, and the wealth of nominations we received from all areas of the UK reflects this. The shortlists are fizzing with energy, ambition and invention. They celebrate not just musical excellence, but a very tangible pioneering artistic spirit: outstanding musicians and organisations who want to share and encourage musical excellence, investigate new creative avenues and to see music make a real difference to the world we live in. In short, the shortlists celebrate great music, happening in the moment – the essence of what makes live music so special. Congratulations to them all."
For more information go to www.rpsmusicawards.com.
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