The Royal Philharmonic Society has announced the winners of the 2018 instalment of its annual music awards.
In a ceremony hosted by BBC Radio 3 presenters Georgia Mann and Petroc Trelawny last night at The Brewery in London, the music industry was treated to a performance by the winner of the coveted Young Artists Award, Scottish guitarist Sean Shibe.
The Conductor Award, sponsored by BBC Music Magazine, went to Vladimir Jurowski, now in his tenth season as principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Pianist Igor Levit took home the Instrumentalist Award and tenor Allan Clayton won the Singer Award.
Composers Mark-Anthony Turnage and James Dillon were awarded the composition prizes, for Hibiki and Tanz/haus Triptych 2017 respectively.
Other leading figures acknowledged in this year’s Awards include The Sixteen, Thomas Quasthoff’s BBC documentary, Becoming a Lied Singer and John Eliot Gardiner’s Monteverdi 450 Trilogy.
The RPS’s highest honour, the Gold Medal, was presented to the legendary American soprano Jessye Norman in tribute to her long and illustrious musical career as ‘a towering artist: an icon in the operatic world who has raised the bar of the possibilities of the human voice’.
Highlights from the RPS Music Awards will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 at 7.30pm on Monday 14 May.
- Rosemary Johnson's final season at the Royal Philharmonic Society
- Nominations open for the RPS Music Awards
Winners in full:
AUDIENCES AND ENGAGEMENT Classically Yours (Orchestras Live in partnership with East Riding of Yorkshire Council)
CHAMBER MUSIC AND SONG Spitalfields Music’s Schumann Street
CHAMBER-SCALE COMPOSITION Tanz/haus Triptych 2017 by James Dillon
CONCERT SERIES AND FESTIVALS London Symphony Orchestra’s ‘This is Rattle’
CONDUCTOR Vladimir Jurowski
CREATIVE COMMUNICATION Becoming a Lied Singer
ENSEMBLE The Sixteen
INSTRUMENTALIST Igor Levit
LARGE-SCALE COMPOSITION Mark Anthony Turnage Hibiki
LEARNING AND PARTICIPATION 509 Arts: Calderland
OPERA AND MUSIC THEATRE John Eliot Gardiner’s Monteverdi 450 Trilogy
SINGER Allan Clayton
YOUNG ARTISTS Sean Shibe
GOLD MEDAL Jessye Norman