Page 56 - RPS Awards 2023 Coverage Book

everyone ready to receive it, as we all saw during lockdown and as we experience from day
to day.

Gilhooly’s passionate speech threw down a gauntlet to the government and Arts Council but
did so in the spirit of collaboration and community. These two words appeared at regular
intervals throughout the evening, which captured a wide range of heartwarming and
inspirational work taking place around the country, in spite of these restrictions.

Winners included the Torbay Symphony Orchestra, representative of so many life-giving
amateur ensembles around the UK in the joy they bring to so many who take part or
spectate. Joy, too, is at the heart of Anna Lapwood’s tireless and effervescent work, the
organist deservedly collecting the Gamechanger award for her achievements in bringing the
instrument to a whole new audience. Put #playlikeagirl into TikTok or Instagram, and
you’ll see what I mean!

The awards, stylishly presented by BBC Radio 3 anchors Petroc Trelawny and Hannah
French, captured classical music in so many different forms. Timothy Ridout, a shining
viola player of the present and future, credited his Luton and Bedfordshire musical roots as
key to the Young Artist Award. Abel Selaocoe won the Instrumentalist Award, the cellist
expanding the scope of his instrument to encapsulate non-Western musical traditions. How
remarkable that an instrument with such a long history continues to develop.

There were even happy pandemic stories. Theatre of Sound won the Opera and Musical
Theatre award, their production of Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle born during lockdown and
executed in Stone Nest, just off Shaftesbury Avenue in London. Martyn Brabbins, music
director of English National Opera, deservedly won the Conductor award for his fearless
work with the beleaguered company, in which he continues to form strong connections
with his musicians, old and new alike.

The Multi-Story Orchestra won the Impact Award for their searing production The Endz,
expressing the feelings of a young Peckham group for the death of teenager Malcolm Mide-
Madariola, killed while standing up for a friend in a knife fight. Even the brief excerpt we
heard conveyed their strength of feeling, and their acceptance speech confirmed how
cathartic music had been in expressing their feelings.

One of the most poignant moments of the night came when Manchester Camerata’s
film Untold – Keith (above) earned them the Storytelling Award, confirming once again the
power of music to help people cope better with dementia. Meanwhile on the streets Leeds
Piano Trail won the Series and Events Award for their strategically placed pianos, bringing
more than 200,000 aspiring musicians to the city centre, while composer Gavin
Higgins took the Large-Scale Composition Award for his Concerto Grosso, a rousing success
at the BBC Proms with the Tredegar Town Band and BBC National Orchestra of
Wales under Ryan Bancroft.

The live music in the awards was astutely programmed. Sheku Kanneh-Mason gave a
striking excerpt from the Cello Sonata no.2 by Leo Brouwer, written for him and fresh off
the page in a first performance. Soprano Anna Dennis, winner of the Singer Award, sang a
striking song of Elena Langer, Stay O Sweet beautifully weighted with beautifully floated
counterpoint from oboist Nicholas Daniel.