The nominations for this year's RPS Awards have been announced, with the BBC Singers nominated after a dramatic headline-grabbing year of announcements of disbandment, and following a significant backlash from the community, a reprieval of this decision. They are up against the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective and Riot Ensemble in the Ensemble Category.
The late composer Kaija Saariaho is remembered and recognised in two categories this year for her opera Innocence, which is nominated for Large-Scale Composition also in the Opera and Music Theatre category for its UK premiere at The Royal Opera. The latter category is an eclectic selection this year, including Chornobyldorf, a contemporary media-opera presented by the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival looking at the impact of nuclear power on our world, and the Glyndebourne premiere of Poulenc's devastating Dialogues des Carmélites.
Nominated in the Conductor Award are Alice Farnham, artistic director of Women Conductors; Birmingham Opera Company's music director Alpesh Chauhan; and François-Xavier Roth, founder of Les Siècles.
BBC Music Magazine's 2022 Personality of the Year Nicky Spence is shortlisted for the Singer Award, nominated with 2021 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Song Prize winner Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, and vocalist Alice Zawadzki.
Sitar player and composer Jasdeep Singh Degun is nominated in two categories: Instrumentalist and Large-Scale Composition for Opera North's production of Orpheus, which brought together the music of Monteverdi's 1607 opera with new music by Jasdeep Singh Degun.
Nominated in the Young Artist Category is accordionist Ryan Corbett, who in 2021 became the first accordionist in 28 years to win the ROSL Gold Medal. He also joined the intake of BBC New Generation Artists in 2022. He is up against trumpeter Aaron Azunda Akugbo and mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean in this category.
The winner of the Inspiration Award will be decided by a public vote, which is open now on the RPS wesite. You can choose between Derwent Brass, Glasgow Madrigirls, Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus and The Sunday Boys.
The RPS Awards will be held outside of London for the first time. This year they're heading to Manchester, taking place at the Royal Northern College of Music.
The RPS Awards will take place on Tuesday 5 March, with a special broadcast by BBC Radio 3 the following evening.
The full list of nominees for the 2024 RPS Awards:
Chamber-Scale Composition
supported by Boosey & Hawkes in memory of Tony Fell
Ben Lunn History needs…
Laurence Osborn TOMB!
Nilufar Habibian Az nahāyate tāriki (From the deep end of darkness)
Conductor
supported by Schott Music
Alice Farnham
Alpesh Chauhan
François-Xavier Roth
Ensemble
supported by Steinberg’s Dorico
BBC Singers
Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective
Riot Ensemble
Impact
supported by Oxford University Press Music
Call of the Mountains – Drake Music Scotland
Re:Sound – Streetwise Opera
Music in Secondary Schools Trust
Olympias Music Foundation
Inspiration
supported by Presto Music
Derwent Brass
Glasgow Madrigirls
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus
The Sunday Boys
Instrumentalist
supported by ISM, the Independent Society of Musicians
Ayanna Witter-Johnson cello
Jasdeep Singh Degun sitar
Pavel Kolesnikov piano
Large-Scale Composition
supported by the Boltini Trust
Cassandra Miller I cannot love without trembling
Jasdeep Singh Degun Orpheus
Kaija Saariaho Innocence
Noriko Koide Swaddling Silk and Gossamer Rain
Opera and Music Theatre
supported by Wise Music Classical
Chornobyldorf Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival
Dialogues des Carmélites Glyndebourne Opera
Innocence The Royal Opera
Series and Events
supported by Warner Classics
Aldeburgh Festival
Manchester Classical
Oratorio of Hope – London Borough of Croydon
Singer
supported by Jenny Hodgson
Alice Zawadzki vocalist, songwriter
Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha soprano
Nicky Spence tenor
Storytelling
supported by Martin Randall Travel
Composer of the Week – BBC Radio 3
Eastern Classical – BBC Radio 4
Quartet – Leah Broad
Young Artist
supported by Sir Simon and Victoria, Lady Robey CBE
Aaron Azunda Akugbo trumpet
Lotte Betts-Dean mezzo soprano
Ryan Corbett accordion
