Page 69 - Final_RPS Awards 2020 Media Coverage Book

The new Inspiration Award – introduced to celebrate the extraordinary music-

making that has uplifted the nation in lockdown – goes to six winners:

Concerteenies, Diocese of Leeds Schools Singing Programme, The Opera

Story, Stay At Home Choir, #UriPosteJukeBox and the Virtual Benedetti

Sessions. For this award, 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 2,700 nominations were received.

A prominent advocate for music this year, RPS Chairman John Gilhooly opened

proceedings with a speech on the impacts the music community has faced over

the past year: ‘Tonight we come together, in a year when our musical world has

been largely immobilised, and, for a while, totally silenced. This could easily be

an eighteen-month or longer crisis for live performance. We need our leaders to

maintain an ongoing honest and open dialogue with our industry. We need a

faster solution for getting aid to the self-employed. We need to be clear about

the scale of what will be lost. We need to draw on every resource we can to heal

and rebuild our society, and cannot allow music to be neglected or overlooked in

this. As we continue on the uncertain road ahead, we draw on our inner

strength, our resilience, and our solidarity as a community of musicians and

music lovers; as a Philharmonic Community.’

The Impact Award – awarded for initiatives that have a lasting positive effect on

people who may not otherwise experience classical music – goes to City of

London Sinfonia for Sound Young Minds which powerfully defines how classical

musicians can play a transformative role in the lives of young people with mental

health issues, boosting their confidence, social skills and trust.