Page 68 - RPS Awards 2023 Coverage Book

2 March 2023

Celebrations, but warnings about funding, set the tone at

the RPS Awards

Martin Cullingford, Gramophone Editor

Chairman John Gilhooly uses occasion to send a message to

government

Manchester Collective - RPS Ensemble Winners close the ceremony (photo: Mark Allan)

Last night's Royal Philharmonic Society Awards - the organisation's annual
recognition of performers, composers, and inspirational initiatives and people -
began not with a celebratory fanfare, but a forceful speech by its chairman John

Gilhooly.

Perhaps after a year - and in particular the last few months - where the impact of
Arts Council cuts to a number of institutions, English National Opera the most high-

profile among then, has dominated discussion about our country's musical life, to do
otherwise would have left a strong sense of something unsaid. So, and rightly, the