Read on to discover all the winners the 2025 RPS Awards...
The winners of the 2025 Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) Awards were announced last night, 'celebrating classical music’s vibrant and vital impact, resonance, and reach nationwide'.
Taking place for the first time in Birmingham, at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, the ceremony featured performances from a range of nominees and was hosted by BBC Radio 3 presenters Jess Gillam and Tom McKinney.
Among the 2025 RPS Awards winners are Paraorchestra, conductor Kazuki Yamada, Streetwise Opera, NMC Recordings, cellist Laura van der Heijden, and Welsh National Opera.
RPS Chair Angela Dixon said:
‘The RPS Awards have a story to tell about classical music-making in the UK today that is both inspiring and humbling. It’s a story of extraordinary musicians living extraordinary lives, giving the best of themselves and making a difference. Behind each of the awards tonight is a community of audiences, participants, and creative forces. We’re here this evening to recognise excellence in classical music in all of its forms and to celebrate the impact our sector is having on people in all walks of life.’
See the full list of 2025 RPS Awards winners below:
Chamber-Scale Composition
Sarah Lianne Lewis - letting the light in
Lewis’s work for solo prepared piano is a reflection on new motherhood, premiered by Siwan Rhys. Lewis explores navigating change, balancing a freelance career with caregiving, and its impact on her disability.
Conductor
Kazuki Yamada
Music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra since 2023, Yamada is also artistic and music director of Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo. The Japanese-born conductor continues to work and perform in his homeland with the NHK Symphony Orchestra every season too.
Ensemble
Paraorchestra
Founded by Charles Hazlewood in 2011 after becoming aware of the lack of opportunities for disabled musicians, Paraorchestra has shaken up the traditional orchestral model, and is now made up of around 50 musicians who identify as disabled, deaf or neurodivergent, playing alongside non-disabled musicians.
More 2025 RPS Awards winners...
Gamechanger
NMC Recordings
Recognised for ‘inspirational work breaking new ground in classical music’, this year’s Gamechanger is NMC Recordings, which for over 35 years has been dedicated to ‘the promotion of exceptional contemporary classical music from Britain and Ireland’.
Impact
Re:Discover Festival – Streetwise Opera
A celebration of African and Caribbean heritage through the voices of people with experience of homelessness, Re:Discoverled to the co-creation of three short operas by 100 participants, performed across London, Manchester and Nottingham.
Inspiration
Open Arts Community Choir
This dynamic and inclusive choir from Belfast, directed by Beverley McGeown, demonstrates how disabled and non-disabled people from diverse backgrounds can come together through the medium of song to stage high-quality performances across a wide range of genres.
More 2025 RPS Awards winners...
Instrumentalist
Laura van der Heijden (cellist)
Since winning BBC Young Musician in 2012 at the age of 15, Van der Heijden has developed a thoughtful career, combining solo and chamber collaboration, premiere performances and acclaimed recordings for Chandos.
Large-Scale Composition
Katherine Balch – whisper concerto
Named after the ‘whisper cadenza’ of Ligeti’s Cello Concerto and dedicated to soloist Zlatomir Fung, this piece ‘is not meant as a showcase for cello alone, but for the orchestra as a whole, which reacts to and augments the soloist’.
Opera and Music Theatre
Death in Venice – Welsh National Opera
WNO’s mesmerising 2023-24 production of Britten’s classic opera brought together a stellar team, including tenor Mark Le Brocq, baritone Roderick Williams, conductor Leo Hussain and director Olivia Fuchs.
More 2025 RPS Awards winners...
Series and Events
The Cumnock Tryst
Taking its name from a setting of William Soutar’s love poem ‘The Tryst’ by James MacMillan, the Scottish festival brings together music lovers from far and wide for four packed days of delightful performance.
Singer
Claire Booth (soprano)
With over 40 world premieres by such luminaries as Birtwistle, Benjamin, Carter and Knussen to her name, Claire Booth has graced opera and concert stages in the UK and abroad in a wide range of repertoire, from Monteverdi to Britten.
Storytelling
Classical Africa – BBC Radio 3
In Radio 3’s Sunday Feature, South African double bassist, writer and broadcaster Leon Bosch asks whether we can define a distinctively African form of Western classical music – drawing on his own, sometimes harrowing, experiences.
Young Artist
GBSR Duo
George Barton (percussion) and Siwan Rhys (piano, pictured left) have built a reputation for fearless and boundary-defying performances, with an emphasis on commissioning, repertoire-building and cross-genre collaboration with such names as Oliver Leith, CHAINES and Angharad Davies.
Where and when can I watch the RPS Awards 2025?
The event will be available to watch on the RPS website from 17 March. In addition, BBC Radio 3 presents a special broadcast featuring music of the winners and nominees on 7 March.