Page 138 - RPS Awards 2024 Coverage Book

IMPACT Call of the Mountains – Clare Johnston and Drake Music
supported by Oxford Scotland
University Press Music ‘Drake Music Scotland and their Associate Composer Ben Lunn are
for an outstanding renowned for empowering disabled musicians. Call of the Mountains –
initiative, individual or their collaboration with Clare Johnston – crosses new frontiers. Clare
organisation that led a groundbreaking creative exchange with Kazakhstan’s Eegeru
practically engaged and ensemble: digitally at first, then culminating in a triumphant collective
set out to have a lasting performance in Edinburgh. From these pioneers, we could all learn
impact on the lives of ways for marginalised artists to take the reins and lead the field.’
people who may not
otherwise experience Also nominated:
classical music, Re:Sound – Streetwise Opera
demonstrating the Music in Secondary Schools Trust
positive, empowering Olympias Music Foundation
role it can play in society

INSPIRATION Derwent Brass
supported by Presto ‘Derwent Brass is a beacon of innovative programming in the
Music Midlands’ rich heritage of brass banding. Recently celebrating its 30th
for a non-professional anniversary, the band is positively influencing others with its
ensemble or an commitments to sustainability and diverse membership. Performing
individual who works repertoire from Broadway to The Planets – and recently completing a
with such groups, in 35-show run of Brassed Off at Derby Theatre – the group consistently
recognition of the innovates and entertains.’
remarkable constellation
of such music-makers Also nominated:
nationwide Glasgow Madrigirls
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus
The Sunday Boys

INSTRUMENTALIST Jasdeep Singh Degun – sitar
supported by ISM, the ‘Jasdeep Singh Degun shows us all the beauty and boundless
Independent Society of possibilities of the sitar. Rainbows of sound burst from his instrument
Musicians in the dazzling collaborations of his debut album and his glorious re-
for the outstanding telling of Orpheus with Opera North. He excels on so many remarkable
quality and scope of the levels, as a solo performer, team player, composer, director, and role-
performances to a live or model.’
digital audience, and the
work in any context, of Also nominated:
an individual performer Ayanna Witter-Johnson – cello
on any instrument Pavel Kolesnikov – piano

LARGE-SCALE Kaija Saariaho – Innocence
COMPOSITION ‘Innocence – the final opera by Kaija Saariaho – is a masterpiece by a
supported by the Boltini composer at the height of her powers. The iridescent score reveals the
Trust complexity of human emotion in the aftermath of a tragic event. The
for an outstandingly multi-lingual libretto by Sofi Oksanen and Aleksi Barrière unfolds in
imaginative and sung and spoken lines, with the beautiful, haunting sound of a Finnish
engaging large-scale folk singer echoing long after the final notes are heard.’