The Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards are given annually for live classical music-making in the United Kingdom. The awards were first held in 1989 and are independent of any commercial interest.
Since 2003,
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...
has been the media partners of the awards and all the winners are celebrated in a full-length "Performance on 3" broadcast.
The
Royal Philharmonic Society
The Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) is a British music society, formed in 1813. Its original purpose was to promote performances of instrumental music in London. Many composers and performers have taken part in its concerts. It is now a memb ...
, founded in 1813, is a registered UK Charity dedicated to creating a future for music. It is one of the world's oldest music societies with a membership including both professional musicians and music lovers. Nominations for its awards are invited annually from members of the society, members of the music profession and UK musical organisations. Each category is decided by an independent jury who is asked to judge the nominations on the criteria of creativity, excellence and understanding. Recipients each receive a handcrafted silver lyre trophy made by the silversmith Julie Jones.
Thirteen awards are given annually with categories for performers, composers, programmers, audience engagement, communication and learning and participation. There is no restriction on the nationality of recipients. The awards are presented each May at a dinner in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. Each year the presentation is made by an eminent musician and a distinguished cultural figure is invited to address the guests. Recent speakers have included Dame
Liz Forgan
Dame Elizabeth Anne Lucy Forgan, DBE (born 31 August 1944) is an English journalist, and radio and television executive.
Early life
Forgan was educated at Benenden School, Kent, and St Hugh's College, Oxford, then an all-female college.
She ini ...
,
Richard Holloway
Richard Holloway Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE (born 26 November 1933) is a Scottish writer, Television presenter, broadcaster and cleric. He was the Bishop of Edinburgh from 1986 to 2000 and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Ch ...
,
Nicholas Hytner
Sir Nicholas Robert Hytner (; born 7 May 1956) is an English theatre director, film director, and film producer. He was previously the Artistic Director of London's National Theatre. His major successes as director include ''Miss Saigon'', ''Th ...
,
Jude Kelly
Judith "Jude" Pamela Kelly, (born March 1954), is a British theatre director and producer. She is a director of the WOW Foundation, which organises the annual Women of the World Festival, founded in 2010 by Kelly. From 2006 to 2018, she was Ar ...
,
Alan Rusbridger
Alan Charles Rusbridger (born 29 December 1953) is a British journalist, who was formerly editor-in-chief of ''The Guardian'' and then principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.
Rusbridger became editor-in-chief of ''The Guardian'' in 1995, hav ...
,
Armando Iannucci
Armando Giovanni Iannucci (; born 28 November 1963) is a Scottish satirist, writer, director, producer, performer, and panellist. Born in Glasgow to Italian parents, Iannucci studied at the University of Glasgow followed by the University of ...
,
Neil MacGregor
Robert Neil MacGregor (born 16 June 1946) is a British art historian and former museum director. He was editor of the ''The Burlington Magazine, Burlington Magazine'' from 1981 to 1987, then Director of the National Gallery, London, from 1987 ...
,
Grayson Perry
Grayson Perry (born 1960) is an English contemporary artist, writer and broadcaster. He is known for his ceramic vases, tapestries, and cross-dressing, as well as his observations of the contemporary arts scene, and for dissecting British "pre ...
,
Mark Ravenhill
Mark Ravenhill (born 7 June 1966) is an English playwright, actor and journalist.
Ravenhill is one of the most widely performed playwrights in British theatre of the late-twentieth and twenty-first centuries. His major plays include ''Shoppin ...
and
Gareth Malone
Gareth Edmund Malone (born 9 November 1975) is an English choirmaster and broadcaster, self-described as an "animateur, presenter and populariser of choral singing". He is best known for his television appearances in programmes such as '' The ...
.
Winner
Instrumentalist
Source:
* 1990
Håkan Hardenberger
Ulf Håkan Hardenberger (born 27 October 1961 in Malmö) is a Swedish trumpeter. Taking up the trumpet at the age of eight under the guidance of hometown teacher Bo Nilsson, Hardenberger pursued further studies at the Paris Conservatoire, with P ...
* 1991
Evelyn Glennie
Dame Evelyn Elizabeth Ann Glennie, (born 19 July 1965) is a Scottish people, Scottish percussionist. She was selected as one of the two laureates for the Polar Music Prize of 2015.
Early life
Glennie was born in Methlick, Aberdeenshire in Sco ...
* 1992
Geoffrey Parsons
* 1993
Steven Isserlis
Steven Isserlis (born 19 December 1958) is a British cellist. He has led a distinguished career as a soloist, chamber musician, educator, author and broadcaster. Acclaimed for his profound musicianship, he is also noted for his diverse reper ...
* 1994
Iona Brown
Iona Brown, OBE, (7 January 19415 June 2004) was a British violinist and conductor.
Early life and education
Elizabeth Iona Brown was born in Salisbury and was educated at Cranborne Chase School, Dorset. Her parents, Antony and Fiona, were b ...
* 1995
András Schiff
Sir András Schiff (; born 21 December 1953) is a Hungarian-born British classical pianist and conductor, who has received numerous major awards and honours, including the Grammy Award, Gramophone Award, Mozart Medal, and Royal Academy of Musi ...
* 1996
Itzhak Perlman
Itzhak Perlman ( he, יצחק פרלמן; born August 31, 1945) is an Israeli-American violinist widely considered one of the greatest violinists in the world. Perlman has performed worldwide and throughout the United States, in venues that hav ...
* 1997
Julian Bream
Julian Alexander Bream (15 July 193314 August 2020) was an English classical guitarist and lutenist. Regarded as one of the most distinguished classical guitarists of the 20th century, he played a significant role in improving the public per ...
* 1998
Murray Perahia
Murray David Perahia () (born April 19, 1947) is an American pianist and conductor. He is widely considered one of the greatest living pianists. He was the first North American pianist to win the Leeds International Piano Competition, in 1972. Kno ...
* 1999
Graham Johnson
* 2000
Leif Ove Andsnes
Leif Ove Andsnes (; born 7 April 1970) is a Norwegian pianist and chamber musician. Andsnes has made several recordings for Virgin and EMI. In 2012, Leif Ove Andsnes has signed to Sony Classical, and recorded for the label the "Beethoven Journe ...
* 2001
Piotr Anderszewski
Piotr Anderszewski () (born 1969) is a Polish pianist and composer.
Biographical background
Anderszewski was born in Warsaw, Poland. His father's family was part of Poland's aristocracy while his mother came from a Jewish Hungarian family. He s ...
* 2002
Thomas Trotter
* 2003
Paul Lewis
* 2004
Mitsuko Uchida
is a classical pianist and conductor, born in Japan and naturalised in Britain, particularly noted for her interpretations of Mozart and Schubert.
She has appeared with many notable orchestras, recorded a wide repertory with several labels, w ...
* 2005
Pierre-Laurent Aimard
Pierre-Laurent Aimard (born 9 September 1957) is a French pianist.
Biography
Aimard was born in Lyon, where he entered the conservatory. Later he studied with Yvonne Loriod and with Maria Curcio.
In 1973, he was awarded the chamber music priz ...
* 2006
Anthony Marwood
Anthony Marwood is a British solo violinist.
Early life
He was born 6 July 1965 to Michael Travers Marwood and Anne née Chevallier. He attended King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford. He then studied at the Royal Academy of Music and t ...
* 2007
Michael Collins Michael Collins or Mike Collins most commonly refers to:
* Michael Collins (Irish leader) (1890–1922), Irish revolutionary leader, soldier, and politician
* Michael Collins (astronaut) (1930–2021), American astronaut, member of Apollo 11 and Ge ...
* 2008
Imogen Cooper
Dame Imogen Cooper, (born 28 August 1949) is an English pianist.
Biography
Cooper was born in North London, daughter of the musicologist Martin du Pré Cooper and Mary Stewart, artist. She grew up surrounded by music through her parents and ...
* 2009
Janine Jansen
Janine Jansen (born 7 January 1978) is a Dutch violinist and violist.
Early life and education
Jansen was born in Soest in the Netherlands and came from a musical family. Her father plays organ, harpsichord and piano; from 1987 to mid-2011 he ...
* 2010
Stephen Hough
Sir Stephen Andrew Gill Hough (; born 22 November 1961) is a British-born classical pianist, composer and writer. He became an Australian citizen in 2005 and thus has dual nationality (his father was born in Australia in 1926).
Biography
Houg ...
* 2011
Leon Fleisher
Leon Fleisher (July 23, 1928 – August 2, 2020) was an American classical pianist, conductor and pedagogue. He was one of the most renowned pianists and pedagogues in the world. Music correspondent Elijah Ho called him "one of the most re ...
* 2012
Maurizio Pollini
Maurizio Pollini (born 5 January 1942) is an Italian pianist. He is known for performances of compositions by Beethoven, Chopin and Debussy, among others. He has also championed and performed works by contemporary composers such as Pierre Boulez ...
* 2013
Steven Osborne
* 2014
Patricia Kopatchinskaja
Patricia Kopatchinskaja (born March 1977) is a Moldovan-Austrian-Swiss violinist.
Biography
Early life
Kopatchinskaja was born in Chișinău, in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (now Moldova). She comes from a family of musicians. H ...
* 2015
Colin Currie
Colin David Currie (born 25 September 1976) is a Scottish virtuoso percussionist. He is the founder and leader of the Colin Currie Group, an ensemble dedicated to performing and recording the music of Steve Reich.
Biography Early years
Colin ...
* 2016
Daniil Trifonov
Daniil Olegovich Trifonov (russian: Дании́л Оле́гович Три́фонов; born 5 March 1991) is a Russian pianist and composer. Described by ''The Globe and Mail'' as "arguably today's leading classical virtuoso" and by ''The Tim ...
* 2017
James Ehnes
James Ehnes, (born January 27, 1976) is a Canadian concert violinist and violist.
Life and career
Ehnes was born in Brandon, Manitoba, the son of Alan Ehnes, long time trumpet professor at Brandon University (Canada), and Barbara Withey Ehnes, ...
* 2018
Igor Levit
Igor Levit (russian: link=no, Игорь Левит; born 10 March 1987) is a Russian-German pianist who focuses on the works of Bach, Beethoven, and Liszt. He is also a professor at the Musikhochschule Hannover. He lives in Berlin.
Biography
B ...
* 2019
Alina Ibragimova
Alina Rinatovna Ibragimova (russian: link=no, Али́на Рина́товна Ибраги́мова; ba, Алина Ринат ҡыҙы Ибраһимова born 28 September 1985) is a Russian-British violinist.
Early life and education
...
* 2020
Lawrence Power
Lawrence Power is a British violist, born 1977, noted both for solo performances and for chamber music with the Nash Ensemble and Leopold String Trio.
Career
Power started out as a violist (rather than beginning studies on the violin and switc ...
Conductor
Source:
* 1990
Simon Rattle
Sir Simon Denis Rattle (born 19 January 1955) is a British-German conductor. He rose to international prominence during the 1980s and 1990s, while music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1980–1998). Rattle was principal ...
* 1991
Andrew Davis
* 1992
Klaus Tennstedt
Klaus Hermann Wilhelm Tennstedt (; June 6, 1926 – January 11, 1998) was a German conductor from Merseburg. Known for his interpretation of the Austro-German repertoire, especially his sympathetic approaches towards Gustav Mahler, Tennsted ...
* 1993
Edward Downes
Sir Edward Thomas ("Ted") Downes, CBE (17 June 1924 – 10 July 2009) was an English conductor, specialising in opera.
He was associated with the Royal Opera House from 1952, and with Opera Australia from 1970. He was also well known for his ...
* 1994
Colin Davis
Sir Colin Rex Davis (25 September 1927 – 14 April 2013) was an English conductor, known for his association with the London Symphony Orchestra, having first conducted it in 1959. His repertoire was broad, but among the composers with whom h ...
* 1995
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Johann Nikolaus Harnoncourt or historically Johann Nikolaus Graf de la Fontaine und d'Harnoncourt-Unverzagt; () (6 December 1929 – 5 March 2016) was an Austrian conductor, particularly known for his historically informed performances of music ...
* 1996
Richard Hickox
Richard Sidney Hickox (5 March 1948 – 23 November 2008) was an English conductor of choral, orchestral and operatic music.
Early life
Hickox was born in Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire into a musical family. After attending the Royal Gram ...
* 1997
Richard Armstrong
* 1998
Esa-Pekka Salonen
Esa-Pekka Salonen (; born 30 June 1958) is a Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is principal conductor and artistic advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and music di ...
* 1999
Bernard Haitink
Bernard Johan Herman Haitink (; 4 March 1929 – 21 October 2021) was a Dutch conductor and violinist. He was the principal conductor of several international orchestras, beginning with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1961. He moved to Lond ...
* 2000
Sir Charles Mackerras
Mackerras in 2005
Sir Alan Charles MacLaurin Mackerras (; 1925 2010) was an Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. He was long associated with the Engli ...
* 2001
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music.
Born in Mont ...
* 2002
Osmo Vänskä
Osmo Antero Vänskä (born 28 February 1953) is a Finnish conductor, clarinetist, and composer.
Biography
Vänskä started his musical career as an orchestral clarinetist with the Turku Philharmonic (1971–76). He then became the principal clar ...
* 2003
Marin Alsop
Marin Alsop ( mɛər.ɪn ˈæːl.sɑːp born October 16, 1956) is an American conductor, the first woman to win the Koussevitzky Prize for conducting and the first conductor to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. She is music director laureate ...
* 2004
Mariss Jansons
Mariss Ivars Georgs Jansons (14 January 1943 – 1 December 2019) was a Latvian conductor best known for his interpretations of Mahler, Strauss and Russian composers such as Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich. During his lifetime he w ...
* 2005
Antonio Pappano
Sir Antonio Pappano (born 30 December 1959) is an English-Italian conductor and pianist. He is currently music director of the Royal Opera House and of the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. He is scheduled to become chief con ...
* 2006
Mark Elder
Sir Mark Philip Elder (born 2 June 1947) is a British conductor. He is currently music director of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, England.
Life and career
Elder was born in Hexham, Northumberland, the son of a dentist. He played the ba ...
* 2007
Vladimir Jurowski
Vladimir Mikhailovich Jurowski (; born 4 April 1972) is a Russian conductor. He is the son of conductor Michail Jurowski, and grandson of Soviet film music composer Vladimir Michailovich Jurowski.
Early life
Born in Moscow, Jurowski began hi ...
* 2008
Edward Gardner Edward Gardner may refer to:
* Edward W. Gardner (1867–1932), American balkline and straight rail billiards champion
* Edward Joseph Gardner (1898–1950), U.S. Representative from Ohio
* Ed Gardner (1901–1963), American actor, director and wr ...
* 2009
Valery Gergiev
Valery Abisalovich Gergiev (russian: Вале́рий Абиса́лович Ге́ргиев, ; os, Гергиты Абисалы фырт Валери, Gergity Abisaly fyrt Valeri; born 2 May 1953) is a Russian conductor and opera company d ...
* 2010
Oliver Knussen
Stuart Oliver Knussen (12 June 1952 – 8 July 2018) was a British composer and conductor.
Early life
Oliver Knussen was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His father, Stuart Knussen, was principal double bass of the London Symphony Orchestra, and a ...
* 2011
Iván Fischer
Iván Fischer (born 20 January 1951) is a Hungarian conductor and composer.
Born in Budapest into a musical family of Jewish heritage, Fischer initially studied piano, violin, cello and composition in Budapest. His older brother, Ádám Fis ...
* 2012
Claudio Abbado
Claudio Abbado (; 26 June 1933 – 20 January 2014) was an Italian conductor who was one of the leading conductors of his generation. He served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony ...
* 2013
Kirill Karabits
Kyrylo Karabych ( uk, Кирило Карабиць); born 26 December 1976) is a Ukrainian conductor.
Biography
Early Life
Karabits' father was the conductor and composer Ivan Karabyts.
Karabits was born in Kyiv (then in the Ukrainian SSR o ...
* 2014
Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim (; in he, דניאל בארנבוים, born 15 November 1942) is an Argentine-born classical pianist and conductor based in Berlin. He has been since 1992 General Music Director of the Berlin State Opera and "Staatskapellmeist ...
* 2015
Andris Nelsons
Andris Nelsons (born 18 November 1978) is a Latvian conductor who is currently the music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the ''Gewandhauskapellmeister'' of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. He has previously served as music dire ...
* 2016
Sakari Oramo Sakari is a given name, and may refer to:
* Sakari Kukko (born 1953), Finnish saxophonist and flutist
* Sakari Kuosmanen (born 1956), Finnish singer and actor
* Sakari Oramo (born 1965), Finnish conductor
* Sakari Pinomäki, Finnish mechanical and ...
* 2017
Richard Farnes
Richard Farnes (born 1964) is a British conductor, and was Music Director of Opera North from 2004 to 2016.
Education
Farnes was a chorister at King's College, Cambridge before entering Eton College as a music scholar in 1977. He returned to ...
* 2018
Vladimir Jurowski
Vladimir Mikhailovich Jurowski (; born 4 April 1972) is a Russian conductor. He is the son of conductor Michail Jurowski, and grandson of Soviet film music composer Vladimir Michailovich Jurowski.
Early life
Born in Moscow, Jurowski began hi ...
* 2019
Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla
Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla (born Mirga Gražinytė, 2 April 1986 in Vilnius) is a Lithuanian conductor. She is currently musical director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO).
Biography Early years and education
Gražinytė-Tyla was ...
* 2020
Dalia Stasevska
Dalia Stasevska (born 30 December 1984) is a Finnish conductor. She is currently the principal guest conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and chief conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra.
Biography
Born in Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union, ...
Singer
Source:
* 1990
Philip Langridge
Philip Gordon Langridge (16 December 1939 – 5 March 2010)Millington (7 March 2010) was an English tenor, considered to be among the foremost exponents of English opera and oratorio.
Early life
Langridge was born in Hawkhurst, Kent, educ ...
* 1991
Anne Sofie von Otter
Anne Sofie von Otter (born 9 May 1955) is a Swedish mezzo-soprano. Her repertoire encompasses lieder, operas, oratorios and also rock and pop songs.
Early life
Von Otter was born in Stockholm, Sweden. Her father was Göran von Otter, a Swe ...
* 1992
John Tomlinson
* 1993
Julia Varady
Julia is usually a feminine given name. It is a Latinate feminine form of the name Julio (given name), Julio and Julius (name), Julius. (For further details on etymology, see the wikt:Iulius#Latin, Wiktionary entry "Julius".) The given name ''Ju ...
* 1994
Galina Gorchakova
Galina Vladimirovna Gorchakova (russian: Галина Владимировна Горчакова, born 1 March 1962) is a distinguished Russian lyric soprano.
Beginnings
Gorchakova was born in Novokuznetsk to a musical family. She moved to Novo ...
* 1995
Simon Keenlyside
Sir Simon Keenlyside (born 3 August 1959) is a British baritone who has performed in operas and concerts since the mid-1980s.
Biography
Early life and education
Keenlyside was born in London, the son of Raymond and Ann Keenlyside. Raymond play ...
* 1996
Anthony Michaels-Moore
Anthony Michaels-Moore (born 8 April 1957) is an English operatic baritone and the first British winner of the Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition (Philadelphia, 1985). Michaels-Moore has since performed in many of the world's major ...
* 1997
Bryn Terfel
Sir Bryn Terfel Jones, (; born 9 November 1965) (known professionally as Bryn Terfel) is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly '' Figaro'', ''Leporello'' and ''D ...
* 1998
Joan Rodgers
Joan Rodgers C.B.E. (born 1956, Cleator Moor, Cumbria, England) is an English operatic soprano. She was married to the conductor Paul Daniel, and married Alan Samson in 2013. She studied singing with Audrey Langford. She made her professional oper ...
* 1999
John Tomlinson
* 2000
David Daniels
* 2001
Gerald Finley
Gerald Hunter Finley, (born January 30, 1960) is a Canadian baritone opera singer.
Early life
Finley was born in Montreal and studied music at St. Matthew's Anglican Church, Ottawa, the University of Ottawa, King's College, Cambridge and the Ro ...
* 2002
Violeta Urmana
Violeta Urmanavičiūtė-Urmana (born 19 August 1961) is a Lithuanian opera singer who has sung leading mezzo-soprano and soprano roles in the opera houses of Europe and North America.
Life and career
Urmana was born in Kazlų Rūda, a small t ...
* 2003
Lisa Saffer
Lisa Saffer (born June 3, 1960) is a soprano singer of opera, particularly Bach, Handel and modern works. She also teaches voice at the New England Conservatory of Music, New England Conservatory.
Early life and education
Saffer originates from ...
* 2004
Susan Chilcott (
osthumous)
*_2005_Ben_Heppner
*_2006_Joyce_DiDonato.html" ;"title="Ben_Heppner.html" ;"title="osthumous)
* 2005 Ben Heppner">osthumous)
* 2005 Ben Heppner
* 2006 Joyce DiDonato">Ben_Heppner.html" ;"title="osthumous)
* 2005 Ben Heppner">osthumous)
* 2005 Ben Heppner
* 2006 Joyce DiDonato
* 2007 John Mark Ainsley
* 2008
John Tomlinson
* 2009 Susan Bullock
* 2010
Philip Langridge
Philip Gordon Langridge (16 December 1939 – 5 March 2010)Millington (7 March 2010) was an English tenor, considered to be among the foremost exponents of English opera and oratorio.
Early life
Langridge was born in Hawkhurst, Kent, educ ...
* 2011
Susan Bickley
* 2012
Toby Spence
Toby Spence (born 22 May 1969, London) is a British tenor active internationally on the concert platform, in the opera house and in recordings across a wide range of classical music.
Early life and studies
Spence was born into a musical family t ...
* 2013
Sarah Connolly
Dame Sarah Patricia Connolly (born 13 June 1963) is an English mezzo-soprano. Although best known for her Baroque music, baroque and Classical period (music), classical roles, Connolly has a wide-ranging repertoire which has included works by ...
* 2014
Joyce DiDonato
Joyce DiDonato (née Flaherty; born February 13, 1969) is an American lyric-coloratura mezzo-soprano. She is notable for her interpretations of operas and concert works in the 19th-century romantic era in addition to works by Handel and Mozart.
...
* 2015
Christian Gerhaher
Christian Gerhaher (born 24 July 1969, in Straubing) is a German baritone and bass singer in opera and concert, particularly known as a Lieder singer.
Career
Christian Gerhaher studied with Paul Kuën and Raimund Grumbach at the Hochschule ...
* 2016
Roderick Williams
Roderick Gregory Coleman Williams OBE (born 1965) is a British baritone and composer.
Biography
Williams was born in North London to a Welsh father and a Jamaican mother. He attended Christ Church Cathedral School in Oxford and Haberdashers' ...
* 2017
Karita Mattila
Karita Marjatta Mattila (born 5 September 1960) is a Finnish operatic soprano.
Mattila appears regularly in the major opera houses worldwide, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, Théâtre du Châtelet, Opéra Bastill ...
* 2018
Allan Clayton
Allan James Clayton (1981) is a British tenor singer.
Clayton was a chorister at Worcester Cathedral and a choral scholar in the Choir of St John's College, Cambridge. He was a BBC New Generation Artist from 2007-09 and winner of the Royal Ph ...
* 2019
Nina Stemme
Nina Maria Stemme (born Nina Maria Thöldte on 11 May 1963) is a Swedish dramatic soprano opera singer.
Stemme "is regarded by today's opera fans as our era's greatest Wagnerian soprano". In 2010, Michael Kimmelman wrote of one of Stemme's perf ...
* 2020
Natalya Romaniw
Large-Scale Composition
Source:
* 1990
Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex; harmonically ...
* 1991
Poul Ruders
Poul Ruders (born 27 March 1949) is a Danish composer.
Life
Born in Ringsted, Ruders trained as an organist, and studied orchestration with Karl Aage Rasmussen. Ruders's first compositions date from the mid-1960s. Ruders regards his own compositi ...
* 1992
Harrison Birtwistle
Sir Harrison Birtwistle (15 July 1934 – 18 April 2022) was an English composer of contemporary classical music best known for his operas, often based on mythological subjects. Among his many compositions, his better known works include ''Th ...
* 1993
Magnus Lindberg
Magnus Gustaf Adolf Lindberg (born 27 June 1958) is a Finnish composer and pianist. He was the New York Philharmonic's composer-in-residence from 2009 to 2012 and has been the London Philharmonic Orchestra's composer-in-residence since the begin ...
* 1994
Witold Lutoslawski
Witold may refer to:
*Vytautas the Great (ca. 1350–1430), ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
*Witold (given name)
Witold is a masculine Polish given name. This name derives from the Lithuanian “Vytautas” composed of two elements: “vyt ...
* 1995
Peter Maxwell Davies
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (8 September 1934 – 14 March 2016) was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made Master of the Queen's Music.
As a student at both the University of Manchester and the Royal Manchester College of Music ...
* 1996
Michael Tippett
Sir Michael Kemp Tippett (2 January 1905 – 8 January 1998) was an English composer who rose to prominence during and immediately after the Second World War. In his lifetime he was sometimes ranked with his contemporary Benjamin Britten ...
* 1997
Colin Matthews
Colin Matthews, OBE (born 13 February 1946) is an English composer of contemporary classical music. Noted for his large-scale orchestral compositions, Matthews is also a prolific arranger of other composer's music, including works by Berlioz, ...
* 1998
Thomas Adès
Thomas Joseph Edmund Adès (born 1 March 1971) is a British composer, pianist and conductor. Five compositions by Adès received votes in the 2017 Classic Voice poll of the greatest works of art music since 2000: '' The Tempest'' (2004), ''V ...
* 1999
Henri Dutilleux
Henri Paul Julien Dutilleux (; 22 January 1916 – 22 May 2013) was a French composer active mainly in the second half of the 20th century. His small body of published work, which garnered international acclaim, followed in the tradition of ...
* 2000
Gérard Grisey
Gérard Henri Grisey (; ; 17 June 1946 – 11 November 1998) was a twentieth-century French composer of contemporary classical music. His work is often associated with the Spectralist Movement in music, of which he was a major pioneer.
Biograp ...
* 2001
Wolfgang Rihm
Wolfgang Rihm (born 13 March 1952) is a German composer and academic teacher. He is musical director of the Institute of New Music and Media at the University of Music Karlsruhe and has been composer in residence at the Lucerne Festival and the Sa ...
* 2002
Peter Eötvös
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a sur ...
* 2003
George Benjamin
* 2004 Harrison Birtwistle
* 2005 Thomas Adès: ''
The Tempest''
* 2006
Julian Anderson
Julian Anderson (born 6 April 1967) is a British composer and teacher of composition.
Biography
Anderson was born in London. He studied at Westminster School, then with John Lambert at the Royal College of Music, with Alexander Goehr at Cambri ...
: ''The Book of Hours''
* 2007
Jonathan Harvey: ''...towards a pure land''
* 2008 Thomas Adès: ''
Tevot
''Tevot'' is a one-movement symphony for orchestra by the British composer Thomas Adès. The work was commissioned by the Berlin Philharmonic and Carnegie Hall. The world premiere was given by the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Sim ...
''
* 2009 George Benjamin: ''Into the Little Hill''
* 2010
Kaija Saariaho
Kaija Anneli Saariaho (; ; born 14 October 1952) is a Finnish composer based in Paris, France. During the course of her career, Saariaho has received commissions from the Lincoln Center for the Kronos Quartet and from IRCAM for the Ensemble Inter ...
: ''
Notes on Light''
* 2011
James Dillon: ''Nine Rivers''
* 2012 Jonathan Harvey: ''Messages''
* 2013
Gerald Barry: ''
The Importance of Being Earnest
''The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious ...
''
* 2014 George Benjamin: ''Written On Skin''
* 2015
Hans Abrahamsen: ''
Let me tell you...''
* 2016
Luca Francesconi
Luca Francesconi (born 17 March 1956) is an Italian composer. He studied at the Milan Conservatory, then with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Luciano Berio.
Early years
Luca Francesconi was born in Milan. His father was a painter who edited ''Il ...
: ''Duende, The Dark Notes: violin concerto''
* 2017
Philip Venables
Philip Venables (born 1979) is a British composer best known for his operatic and theatrical works with themes of sexuality, violence and politics.
Life and career
Born in Chester, Venables studied at Jesus College, Cambridge and the Royal ...
: ''
4.48 Psychosis''
* 2018
Mark-Anthony Turnage
Mark-Anthony Turnage CBE (born 10 June 1960) is a British composer of classical music.
Biography
Turnage was born in Corringham, Essex. He began composing at age nine and at fourteen began studying at the junior section of the Royal College of ...
: ''Hibiki''
* 2019
Rebecca Saunders
Rebecca Saunders (born 19 December 1967) is a London-born composer who lives and works freelance in Berlin. In a 2017 ''Classic Voice'' poll of the greatest works of art music since 2000, Saunders' compositions received the third highest total ...
: ''Yes''
* 2020
Frank Denyer
Frank Denyer (born April 12, 1943 in London) is a composer. His music uses a combination of conventional instruments and new, unusual, and structurally modified instruments. Partly due to his studies of non-Western music, much of Denyer's music i ...
: ''The Fish that Became the Sun (Songs of the Dispossessed)''
Chamber-Scale Composition
Source:
* 1990
Simon Holt
Simon Holt (born 21 February 1958) is an English composer.
Biography
Simon Holt was born in Bolton, Lancashire on 21 February 1958. Educated at Bolton School, Holt immersed himself in organ, piano and visual art during his sixth form years. ...
* 1991
Harrison Birtwistle
Sir Harrison Birtwistle (15 July 1934 – 18 April 2022) was an English composer of contemporary classical music best known for his operas, often based on mythological subjects. Among his many compositions, his better known works include ''Th ...
* 1992
Barry Guy
Barry John Guy (born 22 April 1947, in London) is an English composer and double bass player. His range of interests encompasses early music, contemporary composition, jazz and improvisation, and he has worked with a wide variety of orchestras ...
* 1993
Oliver Knussen
Stuart Oliver Knussen (12 June 1952 – 8 July 2018) was a British composer and conductor.
Early life
Oliver Knussen was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His father, Stuart Knussen, was principal double bass of the London Symphony Orchestra, and a ...
* 1994
John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...
* 1995
Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled ''Sequenza''), and for his pioneering work ...
* 1996
Brian Ferneyhough
Brian John Peter Ferneyhough (; born 16 January 1943) is an English composer. Ferneyhough is typically considered the central figure of the New Complexity movement. Ferneyhough has taught composition at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg and ...
* 1997
Elliott Carter
Elliott Cook Carter Jr. (December 11, 1908 – November 5, 2012) was an American modernist composer. One of the most respected composers of the second half of the 20th century, he combined elements of European modernism and American "ultra- ...
:
String Quartet No. 5
* 1998
James Dillon
* 1999
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music.
Born in Mont ...
* 2000
Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze (1 July 1926 – 27 October 2012) was a German composer. His large oeuvre of works is extremely varied in style, having been influenced by serialism, atonality, Stravinsky, Italian music, Arabic music and jazz, as well as t ...
* 2001
György Ligeti
György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century" ...
* 2002 Simon Holt
* 2003 James Dillon
* 2004
Helmut Lachenmann
Helmut Friedrich Lachenmann (born 27 November 1935) is a German composer of contemporary classical music. His work has been associated with "instrumental musique concrète".
Life and works
Lachenmann was born in Stuttgart and after the end of ...
* 2005
Howard Skempton
* 2006 James Dillon: String Quartet No. 4
* 2007
Richard Causton: ''Phoenix''
* 2008
Rebecca Saunders
Rebecca Saunders (born 19 December 1967) is a London-born composer who lives and works freelance in Berlin. In a 2017 ''Classic Voice'' poll of the greatest works of art music since 2000, Saunders' compositions received the third highest total ...
: ''Stirrings Still''
* 2009 Harrison Birtwistle: ''The Tree of Strings''
* 2010
Kevin Volans
Kevin Volans (born 26 July 1949) is a South African born Irish composer and pianist. He studied with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Mauricio Kagel in Cologne in the 1970s and later became associated with the ''Neue Einfacheit'' (New Simplicity) mov ...
* 2011
Brian Ferneyhough
Brian John Peter Ferneyhough (; born 16 January 1943) is an English composer. Ferneyhough is typically considered the central figure of the New Complexity movement. Ferneyhough has taught composition at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg and ...
: String Quartet No. 6
* 2012
Sally Beamish
Sarah Frances Beamish (born 26 August 1956) is a British composer and violist. Her works include chamber, vocal, choral and orchestral music. She has also worked in the field of music, theatre, film and television, as well as composing for chi ...
: ''Reed Stanzas'' (String Quartet No. 3)
* 2013 Rebecca Saunders: ''Fletch''
* 2014 Harrison Birtwistle: ''The Moth Requiem''
* 2015
Graham Fitkin
Graham Fitkin (born 19 April 1963) is a British composer, pianist and conductor. His compositions fall broadly into the minimalist and postminimalist genres. Described by ''The Independent'' in 1998 as "one of the most important of our younger co ...
: ''Distil''
* 2016
Julian Anderson
Julian Anderson (born 6 April 1967) is a British composer and teacher of composition.
Biography
Anderson was born in London. He studied at Westminster School, then with John Lambert at the Royal College of Music, with Alexander Goehr at Cambri ...
: ''Van Gogh Blue''
* 2017 Rebecca Saunders: ''Skin''
* 2018 James Dillon: ''Tanz/haus Triptych 2017''
* 2019
Tansy Davies
Tansy Davies (born 29 May 1973, Bristol) is an English composer of contemporary classical music. She won the BBC Young Composers' Competition in 1996 and has written works for ensembles such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Or ...
: ''Cave''
* 2020
Naomi Pinnock: ''I am, I am''
References
External links
RPS AwardsPast RecipientsRoyal Philharmonic SocietyBBC Radio 3
{{Classical music awards
British music awards
Classical music awards
Royal Philharmonic Society
Awards established in 1989
Recurring events established in 1989
1989 establishments in the United Kingdom