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much of the last year. The ENO is also nominated for its drive-in performance of
Puccini’s La bohème, one of the first productions of its kind during the pandemic.
• English National Opera announces rollout of breathing programme to
help people recovering from COVID-19
In a hat tip to the digital music-making of the last year, a streamed performance of
Vopera’s virtual production of Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges and the Chorus of
Royal Northern Sinfonia’s The World How Wide are up against more traditional live
productions.
BBC Music Magazine supports the Conductor Award and this year’s winner will be
featured in our Christmas issue, on sale on 25 November. The shortlist this year
includes the BBC National Orchestra of Wales’s principal conductor Ryan
Bancroft, who took on the new role in 2020 at the height of the pandemic and this
year made his BBC Proms debut at the Royal Albert Hall. Also nominated is Paul
MacAlindin, who was celebrated for his digital concert series Pandemonium, filmed
with local musicians from the Govan area of Glasgow. Choral conductor Jeffrey
Skidmore also receives a nomination for his work with Ex Cathedra, the ensemble he
founded in 1969.
This year’s RPS Awards will take place at London’s Wigmore Hall on Monday 1
November, presented by Radio 3’s Katie Derham and the Royal Philharmonic
Society’s chief executive James Murphy. Ticket prices have been reduced this year
to open the event up to music-makers from across the country. The ceremony will be
filmed and streamed on the RPS website at a later date, and will be broadcast on
BBC Radio 3 the following Monday.
The public is now invited to cast its votes for the winner of the RPS Inspiration
Award, newly introduced to celebrate non-professional ensembles who have thrived
and kept communities together throughout the pandemic.
Voting for the Inspiration Award will close at 11am on Thursday 30 September.
The shortlists for this year’s RPS Awards:
Chamber-Scale Composition:
Du Yun: Every Grass a Spring
Huw Watkins: Violin Sonata
Laura Bowler: Wicked Problems
Conductor:
Jeffrey Skidmore
Paul MacAlindin
Ryan Bancroft
Ensemble: