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:

l 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.

l 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.

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).

l 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.

l 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.

l 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:

l “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”.

l 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. 

l 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.

l 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.

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

l 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.

With performers, one trick is to invite them to do a turn in the ceremony – which on the whole they will accept and seriously commit to (see above for examples). But sometimes, when it’s a clear turn-down because they have engagements elsewhere, you simply have to tell them they’ve won, swear them to secrecy and get them to film an acceptance speech in advance, feigning surprise, etc., etc.

When it’s the backroom and admin people (or movers and shakers, as they like to think of themselves), sometimes they, or their underlings, will say: “I could come, but I’m very, very busy and it would help to be tipped off, just privately, if being there in person will really be worth it” – in other words, “Have I won, because I’d love to make a speech in front of my peers and admirers, but otherwise it’s not worth it?” That’s the tricky one. I must admit to having stooped that low with those guys, sometimes.