Page 146 - RPS Awards 2024 Coverage Book

Nicky Spence and his husband, pianist Dylan Perez, also entertained with a rendition of Noel
Coward’s Don’t put your daughter on the stage, Mrs Worthington, which opened the second half of
the night (it all finally ran to 45 minutes behind schedule).

⚫ Jasdeep Singh Degun – the first sitar player ever to win an RPS Award – was both winner of the
Instrumentalist category and composer/leader in the final item: Veer, with Harkiret Bahra, tabla, and
RNCM musicians Leda Mileto, Chris Karwacinski, Beth Willett and Clara Hope Simpson (aka the
Aestus Quartet) and Joana Moura, double bass.

⚫ The Opera and Music Theatre award was won by Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival’s
presentation of Chornobyldorf, which brought the whole Ukrainian cast and company of the opera to
Yorkshire for its UK premiere. Ukrainian composers Illia Razumeiko and Roman Grigoriv travelled
from Kyiv to receive the award.

⚫ And the most eloquent acceptance speech was from Jack Capstaff, music director of Derwent
Brass, the Derbyshire brass band which won the “Inspiration” category for non-professional
ensembles – the only award decided by public vote (all nominations for it this year being for those
based somewhere north of Watford). Bearing in mind the band world’s intense competitiveness, he
said, with their foibles – “and there are many” – bands had always been good at creating access to
music making for grass-roots communities, and it was down to a groundswell of support that Derwent
had won the vote.

Other details:

⚫ “Manchester Classical”, the weekend mini-festival last summer that brought together the Hallé, BBC
Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata, Manchester Collective, RNCM and others, was presented with
the Series and Events Award, having brought thousands of citizens to the Bridgewater Hall. Accepting
the award, Hallé boss David Butcher said the city was unique in its collaboration between different
organisations, and “when you work in partnership, brilliant things happen”.

⚫ The Gamechanger Award went to the Irene Taylor Trust and its artistic director Sara Lee for using
music to help people affected by the criminal justice system and in marginalised areas of society.

⚫ The Impact Award was presented to disabled musician Clare Johnston and Drake Music
Scotland for Call of the Mountains, a collaboration with Kazakhstan’s Eegeru ensemble, which
culminated in a collective performance in Edinburgh.

⚫ Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, an icon of contemporary music who died in 2023, was given
the Large-Scale Composition Award for her acclaimed opera Innocence: a portrait of lives changed by
a high school shooting (it was staged by the Royal Opera). Her son, Aleksi Barrière, who was the
opera’s co-librettist, collected the trophy.

⚫ The BBC Singers were recognised for the quality, style and imagination they bring to a range of
endeavour, receiving the Ensemble Award.

⚫ François-Xavier Roth received the Conductor Award for his work with the London Symphony
Orchestra and his own ensemble, Les Siècles; the Chamber-Scale Composition Award went
to Laurence Osborn for TOMB! premiered by the GBSR Duo and 12 Ensemble at the Norfolk and
Norwich Festival; the Storytelling Award went to Leah Broad for Quartet, a book about four female
composers; and the Young Artist Award was presented to mezzo soprano Lotte Betts-Dean.

PS:

Having once been part of a partly similar awards shindig myself, it was like a reminder of old times to
see how these things are put together. You invite all your nominees and their friends to come to swell
the crowd, but you keep the winners’ names confidential, of course … and then you worry that some
of the chosen winners have not committed to being there.