RPS Awards: National Youth Orchestra and a multi-storey car park concert season honoured

10 May 2016, 22:30

Youth and invention were big winners at the RPS Awards tonight with the National Youth Orchestra winning the Ensemble award and Multi-Story winning the Audiences and Engagement award.

The National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain – Classic FM’s Orchestra of Teenagers – was praised for being “a beacon of excellence for decades” and, more recently, its 2015 campaign to engage hundreds more teenagers with the orchestra "at a time when music has such a precarious place in the schools’ curriculum”.

Multi-Story, which will be known to Classic FM readers, won for a 2015 concert season staged in the Bold Tendencies car park in Peckham, South London – a programme praised by RPS for its “ingenuity, simplicity and impact in the local community”.

Youth won out elsewhere on the night, with 25-year-old Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov winning the Instrumentalist award. The full list of winners is below. 

Speaking at the awards ceremony, at The Brewery in the City of London, RPS Chairman John Gilhooly spoke of the importance of celebrating classical music and widening its reach: "At the heart of all great music is the idea of looking outwards, of trying to make sense of the world around us, and articulating our thoughts and lives. And in the 21st century, this should be all lives!

"Tonight the RPS wants to salute the amazing array of talent on offer in the UK – distinguished musicians, distinctive international musical voices, composers, conductors, instrumentalists and people of all ages, and from all walks of life who participate in music-making. And we want to say - in fact shout so loudly that it can’t be ignored: this is for everyone. Music is about joy, and profundity, and understanding – and it’s for you!"

RPS Awards 2016: full list of winners

Audiences and Engagement – Multi-Story
Chamber Music and Song – Carducci String Quartet
Chamber-Scale Composition – Julian Anderson – Van Gogh Blue
Concert Series and Festivals – Kings Place: Minimalism Unwrapped
Conductor – Sakari Oramo
Creative Communication – The Other Classical Musics (Boydell Press, edited by Michael Church)
Ensemble – National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain
Instrumentalist – Daniil Trifonov
Large-Scale Composition - Luca Francesconi – Duende: The Dark Notes
Learning and Participation – Tri-borough Music Hub – Seven Seeds
Opera and Music Theatre – Glyndebourne Festival Opera – Saul
Singer – Roderick Williams
Young Artists – Clare Hammond
Honorary Member of the Royal Philharmonic Society – Graham Vick