The Ivors Classical Awards 2023

2023

THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023

Sponsored by

BFI Southbank Belvedere Road London Tuesday 14th November 2023 Hosted by Hannah Peel and Tom Service

#TheIvorsClassicalAwards @IvorsAcademy

In association with

The Ivors Classical Awards is the UK’s foremost celebration of creative excellence in contemporary classical composition and sound arts.

THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023

EVENT

6.30PM DRINKS AND CANAPÉS BFI Riverfront

NFT 1

Best Community and Participation Composition in association with ABRSM Best Small Chamber Composition Best Chamber Ensemble Composition Innovation Award in association with the Musicians’ Union Best Stage Work Best Sound Art Best Large Ensemble Composition Outstanding Works Collection Best Choral Composition Best Orchestral Composition Academy Fellowship

9.15PM DRINKS AND BOWL FOOD BFI Riverfront

10.30PM GUEST DEPARTURES

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EVENT

EVENT

7.15PM AWARDS CEREMONY

THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023

CONTENTS

WELCOMES The Ivors Academy PRS for Music BBC Radio 3 CONTENTS

CONTENTS

05 07 09

THE NOMINATIONS 20 24 26 32 35 36 41 44

Best Community and Participation Composition in association with ABRSM Best Small Chamber Composition Best Chamber Ensemble Composition Best Stage Work Best Sound Art Best Large Ensemble Composition Best Choral Composition Best Orchestral Composition

SPECIAL AWARDS 30 38 48

Innovation Award in association with the Musicians’ Union Outstanding Works Collection Academy Fellowship

10 16

The Judges In Conversation with Lynne Plowman and Lloyd Coleman

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CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERY WINNER AND NOMINEE

THE IVORS ACADEMY, FOR ALL MUSIC CREATORS

THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023

THE IVORS ACADEMY WELCOME It’s my great pleasure to welcome you to the first Ivors Classical Awards.

Welcome also to the BFI Southbank, a fitting venue to host this celebration of extraordinary craft.

As Chair of The Ivors Academy, I have the great privilege of representing my fellow composers and songwriters at occasions like this. Our members give their time and commitment to judge these awards. They decide who is nominated, and who wins an Ivor Novello Award based on their excellence alone. This appreciation by our peers sets an Ivor apart from all other forms of recognition.

An incredible breadth of work has been selected for the first Ivors Classical Awards. Composers, commissioners, publishers, performers and orchestras can be truly proud of the music that has premiered in the last year.

THE IVORS ACADEMY

WELCOME

The name may be new, but these awards stand on a 20-year legacy of recognising outstanding composition in classical music and sound art.

I would like to extend my gratitude to our sponsor, PRS for Music, and broadcast partner, BBC Radio 3. They are champions of music creators, contemporary composition and new adventures in classical music and sound art.

Tonight, we are delighted to present 11 Ivor Novello Awards, including the award for Community and Participation in association with ABRSM and the award for Innovation with the Musicians’ Union.

Thank you for joining us tonight for this special celebration of the craft of composition. Enjoy your evening.

TOM GRAY Chair, The Ivors Academy 05

THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023

PRS FOR MUSIC WELCOME Welcome to The Ivors Classical Awards.

Today we celebrate new music and the craft of composition by some of Britian and Ireland’s finest classical and sound art composers.

Our vision for PRS for Music, and the members we serve, is to maximise and increase the value of the works entrusted to us.

Live performance is vital to classical music and central to this vision. Earlier this year we announced an uplift in rates for classical concerts and recitals. Consulting closely with the sector, including organisations such as Making Music and ABO, the renewed licence provides flexibility for major orchestras and discounts for amateur groups. Taking into account the uniqueness of the classical music composition environment, which involves lengthy specialist training, the uplift looks to support the financial future of the next generation of composers.

Exceptional artistry also needs nurturing. Composer development workshops and commissioning opportunities continue in earnest.

Following our successful collaboration last year with PRS member Philip Glass, this year we teamed up with award-winning composer Chris Roe and Riot Ensemble alongside sync agency Pusher. New Streams, designed to open up the world of composing for screen, offered four contemporary composers the opportunity to adapt an existing work for TV and film – the results are unique, emotive, and sonically rich pieces that have huge potential.

This year, amongst the 36 new pieces of music, 34 talented individuals are nominated, with nearly 50% first-time nominees – remarkable composers and sound artists who will no doubt shape the musical landscape of music in the UK. Congratulations to all the nominees and winners, and to The Ivors Academy for championing creative excellence year-round.

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PRS FOR MUSIC

WELCOME

We are delighted to continue our partnership with The Ivors Academy for these prestigious awards which see, for the first time, music publishers receive greater recognition and credit for their continued belief and support in the contemporary classical community.

ANDREA CZAPARY MARTIN CEO, PRS for Music

JULIAN NOTT Chair, PRS Members’ Council

THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023

BBC RADIO 3 WELCOME

BBC RADIO 3

WELCOME

When I joined BBC Radio 3 as Controller earlier this year, I was excited about embarking on this new adventure for a number of reasons. Without doubt, one of them was the BBC’s deep connection to the vibrant and thriving music community across the UK, with Radio 3 remaining the single biggest commissioner of new music in this country.

Our many commitments to contemporary music include nurturing young composer talent, broadcasting live performances from across all regions and nations, and, on a daily basis, showcasing British and international composers to our diverse audience.

Put simply, we would not be able to do what we do without precious partnerships with organisations like The Ivors Academy of Music Creators.

Tonight’s Awards celebrate the wonderful breadth of creativity in classical music and sound art. Whether we inspire a first-time listener enthralled by a new work, or bring something different to loyal, longstanding audiences, we are constantly striving to spotlight the new. That’s why supporting the endeavours of composers and performers is such a key part of Radio 3’s remit.

We are therefore thrilled to be the broadcast partner for these awards, working closely with our colleagues at The Ivors Academy.

Congratulations to everyone who has been nominated tonight.

To re-live the buzz of this evening, listen to Radio 3’s New Music Show at 10pm on Saturday 18 November, or enjoy the programme on demand on BBC Sounds.

SAM JACKSON Controller, BBC Radio 3 09

THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023

THE JUDGES

An Ivor Novello Award represents peer recognition.

Natasha Agarwal Kerry Andrew Kristina Arakelyan Ed Baxter Linda Buckley Ruth Byrchmore Richard Causton Stephanie Childress Hannah Conway Margaret Cookhorn Laurence Crane Ninfea Cruttwell-Reade David de la Haye Poulomi Desai Liz Dilnot Johnson

Simon Dobson George Fu Orlando Gough Vivienne Griffin Charlotte Harding Sadie Harrison Orlando Jopling Sarah Lianne Lewis Soosan Lolavar Stephen McNeff Ailis Ni Riain Laurence Osborn Owain Park Ben Ponniah Gabriel Prokofiev

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Maria Sappho Sinan Savaskan Sarah Saviet Abel Selaocoe Howard Skempton Shrikanth Sriram Luke Styles Keting Sun Raymond Yiu Michael Zev Gordon

THE JUDGES

AWARDS PANELS

The Ivors Academy would like to thank all who sat on this year’s award panels:

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Host Hannah Peel and Talvin Singh, recipient of the Ivor Novello Award for Innovation at The Ivors Composer Awards 2022

JOIN THE IVORS ACADEMY Run by songwriters and composers, we connect, celebrate, champion and campaign for all music creators.

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THE IVORS ACADEMY, FOR ALL MUSIC CREATORS

THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023

TALKING MUSIC EDUCATION, ARTS FUNDING AND CHAMPIONING DIVERSITY

IN CONVERSATION

Ahead of The Ivors Classical Awards we spoke to composers and members of The Ivors Academy Lynne Plowman and Lloyd Coleman about the challenges they face and reasons to be optimistic.

WHAT CHALLENGES DO CLASSICAL COMPOSERS FACE? LYNNE It’s always been challenging for composers, and things are particularly difficult now because of the economic situation. We rely on commission fees for income from organisations who are struggling financially.

That obviously impacts on us and one of the reasons that I love being part of The Ivors Academy is that it is a community of composers who have formed an organisation. Normally we work as individuals, that can be quite isolating and can make you quite vulnerable. So it’s important that we come together to have a louder voice and assert our value.

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THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023

WHAT ABOUT MUSIC EDUCATION? LYNNE Music education in schools is a challenge, especially since Covid. We need to get musical instruments back into the hands of children and introduce them to a wide variety of music, including music by living composers.

I’m worried that we go back to a place where only privileged students can pursue music. I see students at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama from a broad range of socio-economic backgrounds. I’m concerned that this could reverse unless we really support music education.

LLOYD Classical music has been seen as the preserve of people who went to private schools. I went to a music school on a funded place, which changed my life. Before that I went to a state comprehensive school and benefited from youth orchestras and then going up through the levels.

HOW CAN A GREATER DIVERSITY OF VOICES BE CHAMPIONED? LLOYD Funding and education are important to ensure a diverse range of voices.

The theme of disability is something that runs through a lot of my work, and it’s important to get a range of voices in terms of background, identity and a range of compositional voices to make sure we’re celebrating diversity that’s eclectic and all-encompassing.

LYNNE Which brings us on to The Ivors Classical Awards. I don’t see it as a ‘competition’, it’s a celebration of all of us. It celebrates our work and our community, where we can have a bit of a party and say that we’ve survived another year and written all this music. And you’re right, we celebrate a diverse range of musical languages now. That’s a healthy community where everyone’s welcome.

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TALKING MUSIC EDUCATION, ARTS FUNDING AND CHAMPIONING DIVERSITY

LLOYD We’re seeing pressures on arts organisations, orchestras, choirs and our funding bodies. This year, The Ivors Academy Classical Council, along with many others, raised concerns about proposed cuts to the BBC Singers and Orchestras.

To lose the BBC Singers would have been a disaster, no doubt about it. They are such a huge commissioner of new music and have such a specific set of skills as a choir. I’m glad the decision was reconsidered and it was heartening to see the composing community come together with such a strong voice.

Cecilia McDowall, recipient of the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Works Collection in 2020

A life with music

abrsm.org

THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023

BEST COMMUNITY AND PARTICIPATION COMPOSITION THE NOMINEES

CHRIS PLYTAS

AWARDS

ESTUARY SOUND ARK MATTHEW HERBERT community project involving young participants; Amy Rose Bryan, Chelsea Joseph, Emily Brewster, Esther-Olivia Odesanmi, Joe Holland, Naomi Rosser, Oliver Starling and Skye Maskell, and sounds collected by the local community in South Essex and North Kent, 30 minutes commissioned by Creative Estuary and performed at The Gulbenkian Theatre, Canterbury on 27th November 2022.

Published in the UK by Bucks Music Group Ltd.

HEROES HARRY CASTLE for chamber orchestra, SATB choir and soprano and baritone soloists, 13 minutes commissioned by Lucy Kitchener and Jack Murphy, Mount St. Mary’s College. Performed by the school’s choir and orchestra at Mount St Mary’s College Chapel, Sheffield on 24th June 2022.

IT TAKES A CITY TOBY YOUNG opera for youth and adult community choirs and professional orchestra, with libretto by Sayan Kent, 60 minutes commissioned by Armonico Consort. Performed by Armonico Consort and Orchestra and 2000 voices from children’s and community choirs across the UK, directed by Christopher Monks, at the Royal Albert Hall, London on 24th May 2022.

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THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023 IN ASSOCIATION WITH

BEN EALOVEGA

for youth orchestra, 6 minutes commissioned by Hallé Concerts Society and performed by The Hallé Youth Orchestra, directed by Delyana Lazarova, at Bridgewater Hall, Manchester on 5th March 2023.

Published in the UK by Valonius Press-Schott Music Limited.

TOGETHER AND APART NED BIGHAM

CLIVE BARDA

for youth orchestra and choir, 10 minutes commissioned by West Sussex Music, performed by West Sussex Youth Orchestra, Youth Choir and Young Voices at Chichester Cathedral, Chichester on 14th July 2022.

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BEST COMMUNITY AND PARTICIPATION COMPOSITION IN ASSOCIATION WITH ABRSM

SWARM FANFARES DOBRINKA TABAKOVA

Congratulations to our nominees in The Ivors Classical Awards 2023 from all of us at Wise Music Group Best orchestral composition

Best orchestral composition © Chris McAndrew

© Anna Maggy

Anna Thorvaldsdottir

Emily Howard

ARCHORA for symphony orchestra

ELLIPTICS for orchestra, soprano and countertenor

Chester Music Ltd

Peters Edition Ltd

Chester Music | Novello | G Schirmer/AMP | Choudens Edition Peters | Edition Wilhelm Hansen | Le Chant du Monde Alphonse Leduc | Editions Transatlantiques | Unión Musical Ediciones

Bergamo Berlin Copenhagen Leipzig London Los Angeles Madrid New York Paris Reykjavík

Best small chamber composition

Best stage work

Sydney Tokyo

© Anna McCarthy

© Marika Kochiashvili

Josephine Stephenson

Joby Talbot

COMME L’ESPOIR / YOU MIGHT ALL DISAPPEAR for soprano and guitar

LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE a ballet in three acts

Éditions Alphonse Leduc

Chester Music Ltd

wisemusicclassical.com

THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023

BEST SMALL CHAMBER COMPOSITION THE NOMINEES

ANSWER MACHINE TAPE, 1987 PHILIP VENABLES

MONICA DE ALWIS

commissioned by Zubin Kanga, hcmf//, Festival d’Automne à Paris, Time of Music Festival, November Music and Royal Holloway. Performed as part of Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival by Zubin Kanga at Bates Mill, Huddersfield on 19th November 2022.

Published in the UK by G Ricordi, Universal Music Publishing.

COMME L’ESPOIR/YOU MIGHT ALL DISAPPEAR JOSEPHINE STEPHENSON for soprano and guitar, 5 minutes commissioned by Héloïse Werner with support from the PRS Foundation. Performed by Héloïse Werner and Laura Snowden at Wigmore Hall, London on 4th June 2022.

Published in the UK by Éditions Alphonse Leduc.

CROW ROTATIONS LARRY GOVES for soprano, flute/alto flute, alto saxophone, cello and electronics, 30 minutes KATHRYN WILLIAMS

AWARDS

for solo piano with amplification and KeyScanner device, projection and recorded sound, 45 minutes

commissioned by Royal Northern College of Music’s Centre for Practice and Research in Science and Music (PRiSM).

Performed by Juliet Fraser and the House of Bedlam at the RNCM Concert Hall, Manchester on 28th October 2022.

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THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023

SILBERBLAU MATTHEW GROUSE commissioned by Sasha Savaloni and Current Resonance, performed by Sasha Savaloni at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow on 2nd May 2022.

THE BOOK OF THE SEDIMENTS NEWTON ARMSTRONG for soprano and electronic sounds, 20 minutes commissioned by Juliet Fraser, Arts Council England, PRS Foundation and the Vaughan Williams Trust. Performed

by Juliet Fraser at City, University of London, London on 11th October 2022.

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BEST SMALL CHAMBER COMPOSITION

JADE FRANCES

for guitar and electronics, 8 minutes

THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023

BEST CHAMBER ENSEMBLE COMPOSITION THE NOMINEES

DISCO! DISCO! GOOD! GOOD? JASPER DOMMETT for chamber ensemble, 13 minutes

AWARDS

performed by The Riot Ensemble, conducted by Aaron Holloway-Nahum, at Duke’s Hall, Royal Academy of Music, London on 22nd March 2023.

EVEN SWEETNESS CAN SCRATCH THE THROAT HANNAH KENDALL

EMILY DENNY

for chamber ensemble, 12 minutes performed by the Manson Ensemble, conducted by Geoffrey Paterson, at Duke’s Hall, Royal Academy of Music, London on 17th March 2023.

Published in the UK by G Ricordi, Universal Music Publishing.

NÖVÉNYEK THOMAS ADÈS

MARCO BORGGREVE

for mezzo-soprano and piano sextet, 17 minutes commissioned by IMS Prussia Cove with the support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation; with additional support from The Nicholas Berwin Charitable Trust and The Fidelio Charitable Trust; The Nicholas Boas Charitable Trust, Jonathan Gaisman, Gilbert and Helen McCabe, The Overli Foundation, The Martin Smith Foundation. Performed by Katalin Károlyi, Joseph Havlat, The Ruisi Quartet and Graham Mitchell at Wigmore Hall, London on 26th November 2022.

Published in the UK by Faber Music Ltd.

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THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023

STAGGERED NOCTURNE LUKE BEDFORD for 14 players and percussion soloist, 20 minutes

WHY DO YOU GRIEVE WILLIAM MARSEY MARIKA KOCHIASHVILI

for chamber ensemble, 11 minutes commissioned by Oliver Zeffman, performed by Ozero Ensemble, conducted by Oliver Zeffman, at The Science Museum, London on 17th May 2022.

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BEST CHAMBER ENSEMBLE COMPOSITION

commissioned by Philharmonia Orchestra and performed

by Colin Currie and Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Michael Francis, at Royal Festival Hall, London on 24th November 2022.

Published in the UK by Universal Edition.

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CHRIS PLYTAS

THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023 IN ASSOCIATION WITH

When the musique concrète pioneer Pierre Schaeffer proposed in the 1940s that – thanks to the recent invention of the microphone and tape recording – all sound could now become music, he sought ways to approach those sounds directly, and abstractly: to remove the ‘train-ness’ from the recordings of locomotives that form the basis of his seminal Etude aux chemins de fer (1948). For almost 25 years, Matthew Herbert has sought to reverse this position: to restore the ‘train-ness’ of sound. Sound, he argues, is inseparable from its source, its context, the way it was produced or recorded, and so on. And, to an equally endless degree, any given sound cannot be divorced from the collective meanings that listeners may ascribe to it.

Herbert’s early reputation was founded on albums such as Bodily Functions (2001) and Plat du jour (2005), composed entirely from samples of parts of the human body, and links in the food chain from battery farming to fine dining. With his recomposition of Mahler’s Tenth Symphony for Deutsche Grammophon’s Recomposed project (2010), he sampled Mahler being played beside his grave in Grinzig, from within a coffin and from a passing hearse. In his numerous scores for film and TV (including four productions with the Chilean director Sebastián Lelio), he often composes with sound sources derived from the film’s location. Beyond music, Herbert has created installations for the Palazzo Reale, Milan (The Unheard, 2017) and Eufonia festival (Speaker, 2019), in which objects narrate in sound the stories of their own creation. And in his ‘novel through sound’, The Music (2018), he realises (in words alone) an idealised experience of listening to the totality of sounds around the world in a single given hour. Across his wide body of work in numerous media, Herbert has comprehensively re-imagined the capacity of sound to create meaning, and the possibilities and responsibilities of listening.

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INNOVATION AWARD

AWARDS

INNOVATION AWARD MATTHEW HERBERT

THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023

BEST STAGE WORK THE NOMINEES

LEAST LIKE THE OTHER: SEARCHING FOR ROSEMARY KENNEDY BRIAN IRVINE opera in one act, for soprano, two actors and two opposing ensembles, co-created by Netia Jones, 70 minutes

AWARDS

commissioned by Irish National Opera. Performed by Amy Ní Fhearraigh, Stephanie Dufresne, Ronan Leahy, Aoife SpillaneHinks and the Irish National Opera Orchestra at the Royal Opera House, Linbury Theatre, London on 15th January 2023.

LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE JOBY TALBOT ballet in three acts, 105 minutes commissioned and performed by The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, London on 2nd June 2022.

Published in the UK by Chester Music Ltd.

ORPHEUS JASDEEP SINGH DEGUN

ROBERT LESLIE

opera in five acts, for Indian classical continuo and Baroque continuo, 150 minutes commissioned by Opera North and South Asian Arts-UK, performed at Leeds Grand Theatre, Leeds on 14th October 2022.

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THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023

THE SCORCHED EARTH TRILOGY BRIAN IRVINE three projected street art operas with libretto by John McIlduff, 30 minutes

VIOLET TOM COULT

MAURICE FOXALL

opera in one act with libretto by Alice Birch, 85 minutes commissioned by Britten Pears Arts and Music Theatre Wales.

Performed as part of Aldeburgh Festival by Anna Dennis, Richard Burkhard, Frances Gregory, Andrew MacKenzie Wicks and London Sinfonietta, conducted by Andrew Gourlay, at Snape Maltings, Aldeburgh on 3rd June 2022.

Published in the UK by Faber Music Ltd.

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BEST STAGE WORK

commissioned by Dumbworld and Irish National Opera.

Performed by Doreen Curran, Francesco Giusti, Eamonn Mulhall, Owen Gilhooly, Brandan Collins, Megan O’Neill, Nicole While, Maria Nilsson Waller, The Independent Theatre Workshop Children’s Chorus and Irish National Opera Orchestra, conducted by Fergus Sheil, at Ulster Museum, Belfast on 14th October 2022.

THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023

BEST SOUND ART THE NOMINEES

LOL OLIVIA LOUVEL

commissioned by The Auxiliary and premiered at Middlesbrough Art Weekender on 22nd September 2022.

MACHAIR DUNCAN MACLEOD acousmatic soundwalk exploring the traditions and ecology of Uist’s machair on the Isle of Benbecula, 34 minutes commissioned by Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum & Arts Centre and released on 8th September 2022.

RITES FOR CROSSING WATER HUGH CREWDSON JONES AND CEVANNE HORROCKS-HOPAYIAN outdoor installation, augmented reality book and EP built around instructional texts, imagined as folklore for the future, 13 minutes commissioned by Ludic Rooms and performed by Crewdson & Cevanne at The Tin Music and Arts, Coventry on 29th April 2022.

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BEST SOUND ART

AWARDS

a site-specific sonic intervention delivered through the public address system of Middlesbrough’s CCTV surveillance network, reflecting the current state of political affairs in Britain, produced with Sound Art Brighton, 7 minutes

THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023

BEST LARGE ENSEMBLE COMPOSITION THE NOMINEES

ANTIGONE: PURE IN HER CRIME ATHANASIA KONTOU ADRIANA BUONFANTINO

commissioned by Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. Performed

by Ensemble 10/10 and Rosie Middleton, conducted by Clark Rundell, at The Tung Auditorium, Yoko Ono Lennon Centre, Liverpool on 21st April 2022.

ILOLLI-POP ALEX PAXTON for ensemble and improvising soloist, 25 minutes

ELISCHA KAMINER

AWARDS

for chamber orchestra and mezzo-soprano, 13 minutes

commissioned by Ensemble Modern, performed by Dreammusics Ensemble and Alex Paxton on the Ilolli-Pop album, released by Nonclassical on 6th October 2022.

Published in the UK by G Ricordi, Universal Music Publishing.

KA BUSHRA EL-TURK for percussion soloist and string orchestra, 20 minutes commissioned by Wiener Konzerthaus, Wiener KammerOrkest and Britten Pears Arts. Performed by Vivi Vassileva and Britten Sinfonia, conducted by Gregor A. Mayrhofer, at Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Aldeburgh on 19th June 2022.

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THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023

SHOUTING FOREVER INTO THE RECEIVER HANNAH KENDALL commissioned by Südwestrundfunk through the Donaueschingen festival. Performed by Ensemble Modern, conducted by Vimbayi Kaziboni, on the BBC Radio 3 New Music Show on 21st January 2023.

Published in the UK by G Ricordi, Universal Music Publishing.

THROUGH THE FADING HOUR ANGELA ELIZABETH SLATER for chamber orchestra, 10 minutes commissioned by London Philharmonic Orchestra and performed by London Philharmonic and Foyle Future First ensemble, conducted by Brett Dean, at Queen Elizabeth’s Hall, London on 14th July 2022.

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BEST LARGE ENSEMBLE COMPOSITION

EMILY DENNY

for 17 players, 14 minutes

CHELSEY BROWNE

THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023

OUTSTANDING WORKS COLLECTION TANSY DAVIES

The title of Between Worlds (winner of a British Composer Award in 2016) might stand as a motto for Davies’ whole creative output, which is populated with thresholds, border crossings, simultaneities and travellers between realms. Her early music straddled the club and the concert hall, turning the rhythms and textures of funk, techno and drum and bass to tightly worked concert pieces such as Neon (2004) and Salt Box (2005). In its juxtaposition of bawdy dance hall and rain-swept night-time scene, the raunchy Grind Show (2007) drew inspiration from Goya’s method of overpainting in his Pilgrimage to St Isidore’s Hermitage.

The central character of Between Worlds is a janitor – a liminal figure himself, whose work usually takes place unseen – and it is telling that he is the one who has visions of a shaman who guides the story towards its inevitable conclusion. The ultimate border-crossers, shamans are recurring presences in Davies’s music, from the soloist of her soprano saxophone concerto Iris (2004), walking between realms of subconscious reality, to the Man in her second opera, The Cave (2018), who encounters echoing visions of his daughter while sheltering inside a prehistoric cave. Over two decades as one of Britain’s foremost composers, Davies has transmuted the gasps and whip cracks, the bump and grind of her early music into visceral contemplations of the natural and supernatural world, exemplified by her characterisation of the piano soloist as a maenad or wild woman in her concerto Nature (2012). Her most recent composition, Star-Way, written for Zubin Kanga and the Prophet Rev 2 analogue synthesizer, brings things full circle, bringing the sounds of electronic dance music into a work that she describes as a ‘guided meditation’ to the stars.

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OUTSTANDING WORKS COLLECTION

AWARDS

In Tansy Davies’ first opera, a cast of office workers find themselves caught on an upper storey of the World Trade Center, on the morning of 11 September. Trapped between floors, they gradually confront their passage from this life to the next.

Celebrating the Ivors Classical Awards nominations for two hcmf// co-commissions:

CELTORWAVE, by Jennifer Walshe, designed by Tom Kemp

Naomi Pinnock Landscape UK Premiere performed at hcmf// 2022 by EXAUDI Philip Venables AnswerMachine Tape, 1987 UK Premiere performed at hcmf// 2022 by Zubin Kanga

THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023

BEST CHORAL COMPOSITION THE NOMINEES

KISHTATOS | ‫ קישתתוס‬OMRI KOCHAVI for 18 voices, 14 minutes

AWARDS

LANDSCAPE NAOMI PINNOCK for 6 solo voices, 10 minutes co-commissioned by WDR and hcmf// for Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Performed by EXAUDI, conducted by James Weeks, at St Paul’s Hall, Huddersfield on 19th November 2022.

SOL BEN NOBUTO for SATB vocal ensemble, 6 minutes commissioned by the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain and performed by the NYC Fellowship under Ben Parry.

Released by NMC Recordings as part of ‘Young Composers 4’ on 27th January 2023.

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BEST CHORAL COMPOSITION

commissioned by Britten Pears Arts for the 2022 Aldeburgh Festival. Performed by BBC Singers, directed by Owain Park, at Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Suffolk on 14th June 2022.

Thursday 23 May 2024 Thursday House 23 MayLondon 2024 Grosvenor Grosvenor House London Entries open 4 December 2023 Entries open 4 December 2023

We say THANK YOU We say THANK YOU for the wonderful compositions that We say THANK YOU for the wonderful compositions that people listen to all over the world and for the wonderful compositions thatwell people listen to all over the world and well beyond the borders of Germany. people listen the to all over the world and well beyond borders of Germany. beyond the borders of Germany.

In Germany, GEMA currently represents the copyrights of around 80,000 In Germany, GEMAlyricists currently the copyrights around 80,000rights members (composers, andrepresents music publishers) and of of over two million members (composers, lyricists and music publishers) and of over two million rights owners from all over the world.

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It is one the largest authors‘ for million music worldwide. members lyricists andof music publishers) andsocieties of over two rights owners from all over the world. It is one of the largest authors‘ societies for music worldwide. www.gema.de

www.gema.de www.gema.de

THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023

BEST ORCHESTRAL COMPOSITION THE NOMINEES

ARCHORA ANNA THORVALDSDOTTIR for symphony orchestra, 19 minutes

AWARDS

commissioned by BBC Proms, co-commissioned by the LA Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Iceland Symphony Orchestra and Klangspuren Schwaz. Performed by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Eva Ollikainen, at Royal Albert Hall, London on 11th August 2022.

Published in the UK by Chester Music Ltd.

CELLO CONCERTO BRETT DEAN

BETTINA STOESS

for symphony orchestra and solo cello, 25 minutes commissioned by Sydney Symphony, Berliner Philharmoniker, Swedish Radio SO, Minnesota Orchestra, Amsterdam Cello Biennale and Muziekgebouw Aan ‘t IJ. Performed by Alban Gerhardt and London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Edward Gardner, at Royal Festival Hall, London on 27th April 2022.

Published in the UK by Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd.

ELLIPTICS EMILY HOWARD

CHRIS MCANDREW

for orchestra, soprano and countertenor, 24 minutes commissioned by BBC Philharmonic and performed by Claire Booth, Hugh Cutting and BBC Philharmonic, conducted

by Vimbayi Kaziboni, at Bridgewater Hall, Manchester on 29th October 2022.

Published in the UK by Peters Edition Ltd.

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THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023

IN THIS BRIEF MOMENT BRETT DEAN

commissioned by Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, CBSO (as one of its Centenary Commissions), Orchestre National de Lyon, Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España and NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra. Performed by Jennifer France, Patrick Terry, CBSO & Chorus, Hallé Choir, conducted by Nicholas Collon, at Symphony Hall, Birmingham on 24th September 2022.

Published in the UK by Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd.

SOUND SCULPTURE NO. 7 SIMON KNIGHTON

FIONA BREHONY

for orchestra, 13 minutes commissioned by Southbank Sinfonia and Nonclassical, performed by Southbank Sinfonia, conducted by Toby Thatcher, at St Johns Smith Square, London on 23rd February 2023.

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BEST ORCHESTRAL COMPOSITION

BETTINA STOESS

for symphony orchestra and double SATB chorus, 49 minutes

Oxford University Press congratulates John Rutter on his Ivors Academy Fellowship, recognising the impact of his contribution on music makers and listeners the world over.

THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023

ACADEMY FELLOWSHIP JOHN RUTTER CBE

Rutter’s career began while he was still an undergraduate at Clare College, University of Cambridge. (He was later the college’s director of music.) It was here that he met David Willcocks, who took him to one side after a weekly harmony class: ‘Mr Rutter, I understand you have been composing. Please bring some of your music to my rooms next Monday morning at nine, I would like to look at it.’ On the basis of these student manuscripts – among them the Shepherd’s Pipe Carol, one of Rutter’s most enduring works – Willcocks facilitated an offer of publication with Oxford University Press. Rutter has remained with OUP ever since, becoming possibly the firm’s most popular living composer. Today there can barely be a chorister in Great Britain, amateur or professional, who has not sung at least some of his music.

In 2018 a New York Times profile described Rutter as ‘The composer who owns Christmas’, and in churches and schools in England his work – in the form of original carols, arrangements and his co-editing, with Willcocks, of the popular Carols for Choirs anthologies – is certainly synonymous with the festive season. But his large body of choral music (not just for Christmas) includes numerous repertory fixtures for choirs on both sides of the Atlantic, among them an extended Gloria (1974), Requiem (1985), Magnificat (1990) and Mass of the Children (2003), all first performed in the United States. And in the 21st century his place in the illustrious tradition of British choral music has been cemented by the featuring of his music at Royal Jubilees and weddings, and the Coronation of King Charles III, where a total of six of his arrangements, from Purcell to Walton, were heard.

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ACADEMY FELLOWSHIP

AWARDS

For half a century, John Rutter’s music has been the sound of celebration in Great Britain. From baptisms to weddings, from school nativities to Royal occasions, it has been an essential presence at the important moments of countless lives.

MARK ALLAN

Liz Dilnot Johnson, winner of the Community & Participation Ivor Novello Award, and guests at The Ivors Composer Awards 2022

THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023

THE IVORS ACADEMY WISHES TO THANK PRS for Music, our headline sponsor BBC Radio 3, our broadcast partner ABRSM and the Musicians’ Union, for their award category sponsorship Our judging panels and award committee Hannah Peel and Tom Service, our hosts This year’s award presenters

Mike Wilson and Meltcharm Products Ltd, for our exquisite statuettes Pete Compton, our Independent Adjudicator The staff at the BFI Southbank and Benugo Rebecca Johns and team at Premier PR Dave Hogan, for our official photography Emanuel Kucbel and team, for filming our official interviews Joanne Viner, for the programme production Judith Rivers, for our adverting sales Tim Rutherford Johnson, for writing our award recipient profiles DMCS and Principal Colour, for our printing The Playground, for our design All the staff at The Ivors Academy, in particular Director of Awards, Fran Matthews Senior Awards Manager, Cindy Truong Awards Manager, Tilly Flynn Awards Coordinator, Kate Spiers Director of Membership, Marketing & Communications, Mark Taylor Marketing & Communications Manager, Anna Brown

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THE IVORS ACADEMY THANKS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Capitol House Productions, for the stage production and floor management Steam Motion and Sound, for the video production

THE IVORS CLASSICAL AWARDS 2023

THE IVORS ACADEMY OF MUSIC CREATORS THE IVORS ACADEMY BOARD Fiona Bevan, VV Brown, Rebecca Ferguson, Tom Gray (Chair), Lea Gatt (U25 Board Director), Eve Horne (observer), Freddie Kofi (observer), Emma McClarkin, Julia Montero, Ailís Ní Ríain, Bankey Ojo, Anna Phoebe, Orphy Robinson, Kevin Sargent, Renell Shaw, Oliver Vibrans, Ollie Wells (U25 Board Director), Ayanna Witter-Johnson

THE IVORS ACADEMY SENATE Mat Andasun, Iain Archer, Lorne Balfe, Justine Barker, Claire Batchelor, Fiona Bevan, VV Brown, Alexander Campkin, Cassell, Lloyd Coleman, Catherine Anne Davies, Nathan James Dearden (observer), Rebecca Ferguson, Lea Gatt, Mark Gordon, Jake Gosling, Tom Gray, Thomas Hewitt Jones, Eve Horne, Jin Jin, Marlon James-Edwards, Ilā Kamalagharan, Melpomeni Kermanidou, Freddie Kofi, Christian McCabe (observer), Anna Neale, Ailís Ní Ríain, Sandy Nuttgens, Bankey Ojo, Hannah Peel, Anna Phoebe, Lynne Plowman, Karine Polwart, Orphy Robinson, Esmeralda Conde Ruiz (observer), Kevin Sargent, Mika Sellens, Renell Shaw, Hannah V, Oliver Vibrans, Ollie Wells, Ayanna Witter-Johnson, Jason Yarde THE IVORS ACADEMY AWARDS COMMITTEE Mat Andasun, Iain Archer, Crispin Hunt, Martha Lewis, Fran Matthews (Director of Awards), Anna Neale, Sandy Nuttgens, Bankey Ojo, Charlie Phillips (Interim CEO), Anna Phoebe, Orphy Robinson, Renell Shaw The Ivors Classical Awards and Euterpe (The Ivors 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.

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THE IVORS ACADEMY

THE IVORS ACADEMY

INTERIM CHIEF EXECUTIVE Charlie Phillips

ivorsacademy.com @IvorsAcademy #TheIvorsClassicalAwards