British Composer Awards

Tuesday 21 October 2014

A number of composers associated with the Royal College of Music have been successful in the 2014 British Composer Awards.

Winner in the orchestral category for his work Frieze is RCM professor Mark-Anthony Turnage, among the most significant creative figures to have emerged in British music of the last two decades.  Frieze received its UK premiere performance on 11 August 2013 at the Royal Albert Hall for the BBC Proms, performed by the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, conducted by Vasily Petrenko.

In addition, RCM alumnus Simon Dobson triumphed in the competition's Wind and Brass Band category for the second time, with his Journey of the Lone Wolf written for the Black Dyke Mills Band.

Other talented RCM graduates on the list include Helen Grime, in the orchestral category shortlist for Near Midnight, which was performed by the Hallé in the 2014 BBC Proms season; Luke Bedford, for his chamber work Renewal; and Christopher Trapani for Visions and Revisions, shortlisted in the International Category.

The Awards Ceremony - which took place at London’s Goldsmiths’ Hall on Tuesday 2 December - included the first performance of Sonicalia for tuba and trombone by RCM composer Bertram Wee, recently announced as the winner of the competition's Student Competition.

Bertram’s winning piece as well as other highlights from the ceremony can be heard on BBC Radio 3's Hear and Now programme on Saturday 6 December.

Created by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) in 2003, the British Composer Awards seek to promote the art of composition, to recognise the creative talent of composers and sound artists, and to bring their music to a wider audience. To be nominated for the 2014 awards, works must have been completed within five years of the award period and have received a UK premiere performance between April 2013 and March 2014.