Academy Fellowship

Academy Fellowship Judith Weir

Awards In her monodrama for solo voice, King Harald’s Saga (1979), Judith Weir managed to squeeze the epic story of Harald Hadradi’s failed invasion of England into ten minutes of unaccompanied song. It is an extraordinary, yet entirely characteristic feat of compression. Every note of her music since has been carefully chosen, whether in her two subsequent ‘micro-operas’ The Black Spider (1984) and The Consolations of Scholarship (1985), or in her music for orchestra (effervescent in The Welcome Arrival of Rain, 2001, for the Minnesota Orchestra; intertwining in Forest, 1995, for the CBSO) or choir (as in her 1985 Christmas carol Illuminare, Jerusalam for King’s College, Cambridge, where she was one of the first women to study music, and her millennium celebration All the Ends of the Earth for the BBC Singers). On larger operatic canvases she has found international success with the Scottish folk trilogy The Vanishing Bridegroom (1990), the dark fairytale Blond Eckbert (1993) and the ingeniously constructed A Night at the Chinese Opera (1987), among the most acclaimed British operas since Benjamin Britten’s Death in Venice.

The clarity and precision of Weir’s music has also ensured its accessibility to both listeners and performers. Many of her works have been written for specific schools and community groups across the UK; others are designed to be equally rewarding for both professional and amateur performers. Weir has created several opera films for TV, including Scipio’s Dream, broadcast by the BBC in 1991, but the public appeal of her music received its highest acknowledgement in 2014 when she succeeded Sir Peter Maxwell Davies as Master of the Queen’s Music. The first woman to hold this role, she wrote music for the late Queen’s 90th birthday and Platinum Jubilee, as well as her funeral earlier this year.

Weir was made a CBE in 2005. She has had success at The Ivors before, winning the Classical Music Award in 2015 and the Choral Award in 2018 for her oratorio In the Land of Uz (2017). The Ivors Academy is delighted to recognise her once again, this time with its highest honour – Academy Fellowship.

Academy Fellowship

HELP FUND CREATIVE AND PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT FOR COMPOSERS

The Ivors Academy wishes to thank

Acknowledgements PRS for Music, our headline sponsor BBC Radio 3, our broadcast partner ABRSM, Musicians’ Union and Music Publishers Association for their award category sponsorship

Hannah Peel and Tom Service, our hosts

Capitol House Productions for the video production and stage management Chris Maclean at CM Audio for the audio editing Mike Wilson and Meltcharm Products Ltd for our exquisite statuettes

All the judges on this year’s panels Sarah Nicolls, our Independent Adjudicator This year’s award presenters

Kristina Ryttersgaard, Prudence Jaguelin and team at the British Museum and Benugo

Mark Allan for our official photography and Stabal TV for our official videography Rebecca Johns and team at Premier PR Joanne Viner for the programme production Tim Rutherford Johnson for writing our award recipient profiles DMCS and Principal Colour for our printing

All the staff at The Ivors Academy, in particular Director of Awards, Fran Matthews Awards Manager, Cindy Truong Awards Manager, Tilly Flynn Awards Administrator, Kate Spiers

The Ivors Academy thanks

The Ivors Academy of Music Creators

The Ivors Academy The Ivors Academy Board Fiona Bevan, VV Brown, Rebecca Ferguson, Tom Gray (Chair), Crispin Hunt, Emma McClarkin, Julia Montero, Ailís Ní Ríain, Anna Phoebe, Orphy Robinson, Kevin Sargent, Emily Saunders, Oliver Vibrans, Imogen Williams (shared role), Hope Winter (shared role), Ayanna Witter-Johnson

Chief Executive Graham Davies

The Ivors Academy Trust Board Michael Adex, Natasha Baldwin, Michael Dugher, Cliff Fluet (Chair), Lucy Francis (Vice Chair), Sally Ann Gross, Charlotte Harris, Melanie Johnson, Katie Lam, Peter Leathem, Silvina Munich (special advisor), Danny Poku, Oliver Vibrans

Awards Committee Mat Andasun, Iain Archer, Cassell, Nainita Desai, Crispin Hunt (Chair), Marlon James-Edwards, Martha Lewis, Anna Neale, Sandy Nuttgens, Bankey Ojo, Anna Phoebe, Orphy Robinson, Renell Shaw

The Ivors Composer Awards and Euterpe (Ivor Novello Award statuette, designed in 1955 by Hazel Underwood) are trademarks belonging to British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, trading as The Ivors Academy. Persons wishing to reproduce or use these marks must secure the written consent of The Ivors Academy prior to use.

Although every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained within this publication, The Ivors Academy cannot be liable for errors or omissions. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of The Ivors Academy.

1 Upper James Street, London, W1F 9DE

awards@ivorsacademy.com www.ivorsacademy.com @IvorsAcademy

CBP006941 The Ivors Academy