Page 145 - RPS Awards 2024 Coverage Book
P. 145
07 March 2024
The Royal Philharmonic Society Awards 2024, at the
Royal Northern College of Music
L-R from top: Nicky Spence; Jasdeep Singh Degun; Roman Grigoriv, Olga Diatel and Illia
Razumeiko; and Jack Capstaff at the RPS Awards
The Royal Philharmonic Society held its awards ceremony at the Royal Northern College of Music on
Tuesday night (5 March) – the first time they’ve ever done them out of London. And here are my
awards for the highlights of the show:
⚫ The ceremony began with Conversation in the Forest by Keiko Abe, performed by “The Sound of
Manchester” – Delia Stevens and Le Yu (aka Aurora Percussion Duo), with Andrea Vogler, David
Hext, Harriet Kwong and Paul Patrick.
⚫ Most entertaining acceptance speech of the night was from tenor Nicky Spence (winner, Singer
category), pointing out that he’d been up for the award more than once before and “I was beginning to
think I was Pippa Middleton” and telling the tale of how his mother (also present) and he stayed in a
youth hostel when he first auditioned for the Guildhall School – sharing a room with bunk beds and,
as both were “under-ambitious in terms of BMI”, it became a test of faith for the party on the
underneath.
