Page 24 - Final_RPS Awards 2020 Media Coverage Book

• The new ‘Inspiration’ Award will honour the extraordinary music-making that has uplifted
the nation in lockdown. For this, the RPS opened nominations to the public for the first

time, inviting households nationally to share what has moved them musically since
March. An unprecedented 2,600 nominations were received, and the RPS will

announce six winners of this special award alongside all other award recipients in
November.
Winners will be announced at the 2020 RPS Awards digital broadcast at 7.00pm on
Wednesday 18 November on the RPS website. Filmed at London’s Wigmore Hall and
presented by BBC Radio 3’s Georgia Mann, it will feature performances by several nominees.
Longstanding RPS Awards partner BBC Radio 3 will then present a musical celebration of the
RPS Awards winners at 7.30pm on Monday 23 November.
The Awards digital broadcast will also feature a very special guest appearance by a much-loved
international musician, set to receive this year’s RPS Gold Medal, the highest honour in music,
awarded to outstanding musicians since 1870 from Brahms, Elgar and Bernstein, to Sir Simon
Rattle, Dame Mitsuko Uchida, Jessye Norman and – most recently – Sofia Gubaidulina.
RPS Chief Executive James Murphy says: ‘The RPS Awards have always shone a light on
great musical achievements, but now that light is a beacon: reminding the nation of the essential,
invigorating, connective force that classical music is for so many people. The nominees
represent a nation of selfless, inspirational musicians, and a picture of all that risks being lost if
they cannot wholly return to work soon.‘