#TheIvorsClassicalAwards
L-R Anoushka Shankar, Debbie Wiseman and Anne Dudley © Hogan Media/Shutterstock
· Special Awards were presented to Anne Dudley who became the 33rd Fellow of The Ivors Academy, Anoushka Shankar for Innovation and Debbie Wiseman, who became the first-ever recipient of the Outstanding Contribution to Screen Composition Award
· Composers Anibal Vidal, Anna Clyne, Luke Mombrea and Nneka Cummins and librettists April De Angelis and Zoe Gilbert all received their first Ivor Novello Award
· Helen Grime received her second Ivor Novello Award and Jonathan Dove picked up his fourth
· The Awards ceremony was hosted by BBC Radio 3 presenters Tom McKinney and Kate Molleson and will be broadcast on the New Music Show and on BBC Sounds on 15 November
The Ivors Academy tonight [11 November] revealed the winners of 9 Ivor Novello Awards at The Ivors Classical Awards, celebrating outstanding new compositions by British, Irish and UK resident composers.
Three special Gift of the Academy Awards were presented to Anne Dudley, Anoushka Shankar and Debbie Wiseman. Anne Dudley was inducted into Academy Fellowship, becoming the 33rd Fellow of The Ivors Academy, Anoushka Shankar was presented with the Innovation Award recognising her boundary pushing works, and Debbie Wiseman became the inaugural recipient of the new award for Outstanding Contribution to Screen Composition, recognising her extraordinary body of work across film and television.
A further 8 composers and librettists were recognised across six categories, with Ivor Novello Awards going to composers Anibal Vidal, Anna Clyne, Helen Grime, Jonathan Dove, Luke Mombrea and Nneka Cummins, and librettists April De Angelis and Zoe Gilbert.
The ceremony was hosted by BBC Radio 3 presenters Tom McKinney and Kate Molleson, with guest presenters including director, comedian and actor Chris Addison, composer and musician Nitin Sawhney, former captain of the England men’s rugby union team Chris Robshaw, singer Camilla Kerslake and composer and turntablist Shiva Feshareki.
BBC Radio 3 will broadcast the ceremony on 15 November in a special edition of the New Music Show and the episode will also be available on BBC Sounds. The Ivors Classical Awards are supported by PRS for Music and in association with BBC Radio 3. Presto Music is the exclusive streaming partner for the Awards and Dorico sponsored the Best Orchestral Composition award. The Musicians’ Union returned as the sponsor of the Innovation Award, while the ABRSM sponsored the Best Community and Participation Composition award.
The six categories are judged anonymously, with all identifying information removed from materials seen by the judges. A jury of 30 composer judges from The Ivors Academy considered over 220 works entered for this year’s Awards, resulting in 29 nominated works in the shortlist.
Roberto Neri, CEO of The Ivors Academy, said: “The Ivors Classical Awards celebrate the art and importance of composition in all its forms, honouring the imagination, skill and dedication that go into creating new music. Each Ivor Novello Award is a unique moment of peer recognition for the most important people in music – its composers. Tonight shows why it’s essential that composers are supported, valued and fairly rewarded for their work.”
Sam Jackson, Controller of BBC Radio 3 and BBC Proms, said: “Congratulations to all of tonight’s winners, whose creativity is shaping music in exciting new ways. Championing contemporary composers is at the heart of what we do and we are proud that the BBC remains the biggest commissioner of new music in the country. Through broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 3 Unwind, music by some of Britain’s most talented composers can be heard by audiences across the UK. We are grateful for our partnership with The Ivors Academy, and we look forward to sharing highlights from this evening’s celebration on the New Music Show this Saturday.”
Andrea Czapary Martin, CEO, PRS for Music, said: “Congratulations to this year’s Ivor Novello Classical Award winners – your achievements speak to the range and vitality of composition across the UK. And to every nominee, being shortlisted for an Ivor is a milestone in itself and a testament to the strength of your work. Tonight’s winners are pushing the art form forward with boldness and brilliance, bringing new audiences to contemporary music. PRS for Music is proud to stand with The Ivors Academy in championing outstanding composers, and to ensure creators are recognised and fairly rewarded whenever their works are performed and enjoyed.”
GIFT OF THE ACADEMY AWARDS
ACADEMY FELLOWSHIP – ANNE DUDLEY
Anne Dudley was awarded an Ivor Novello Award and inducted into Fellowship, becoming the 33rd Fellow of The Ivors Academy. Academy Fellowship recognises the highest level of excellence and impact in the art and craft of music creation and is the highest tier of membership at The Ivors Academy. Dudley joins a prestigious list of composers and songwriters including John Adams, Kate Bush, Elton John, James MacMillan, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Sting and more.
Anne Dudley is a pioneering figure in popular music. She was a founding member of 1980s electronic music group Art of Noise, whose experiments in sampling remain influential to this day. She was also arranger and keyboard player on the iconic Lexicon of Love album with ABC. Dudley has also written multiple iconic scores for film and TV, including The Full Monty (for which she won an Oscar and a BRIT Award), Poldark (nominated for two BAFTAs), Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and more. As a classical composer, Dudley has composed a wide range of orchestral works, chamber music, opera and multimedia pieces. She was the BBC Concert Orchestra’s first Composer in Association, and her collaborators include violinist Joshua Bell, cellist Steven Isserlis, artist Sam Taylor-Johnson and ex-Monty Python member Terry Jones.
The Academy recognises Dudley’s compositional impact across pop, classical and soundtrack music, stating that this Award “celebrates a composer, musician and producer whose artistry and ground-breaking vision have continually expanded the language of British music”
Read the full news here.
INNOVATION AWARD in association with the Musicians’ Union – ANOUSHKA SHANKAR
Composer and sitarist Anoushka Shankar was honoured with the Innovation Award, an award that celebrates composers whose creativity expands the boundaries of music and inspires their peers. Previous recipients of this award include Matthew Herbert, Gavin Bryars, Anna Meredith, Shiva Feshareki and Talvin Singh.
Anoushka Shankar is one of the most acclaimed music artists of our time. She began studying the sitar and Indian classical music under the tutelage of her father, Ravi Shankar, and her collaborators include Herbie Hancock, Patti Smith, Sting, Jacob Collier and her half-sister Norah Jones. Shankar was the youngest and first female recipient of a British House of Commons Shield at the age of eighteen. She was also the first Indian musician to perform live or serve as presenter at the Grammy® Awards, and the first Indian woman ever nominated.
The Academy chose Anoushka as the recipient for this Award in recognition of her work that continues to redefine the possibilities of musical expression.
OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO SCREEN COMPOSITION – DEBBIE WISEMAN
This year The Ivors Academy presented an award for Outstanding Contribution to Screen Composition for the first time, choosing Debbie Wiseman as the inaugural recipient.
Debbie Wiseman has composed music for some of the UK’s best-loved films and TV programmes, including Wilde, Tom’s Midnight Garden, Wolf Hall and Father Brown. Her scores have been nominated for multiple Academy, BAFTA and Ivor Novello Awards, and she was Guest of Honour at the World Soundtrack Awards earlier this year. Debbie was also one of just twelve composers chosen to write music for the Coronation of King Charles and wrote music for Her Late Majesty’s Diamond and Platinum Jubilees.
The Outstanding Contribution to Screen Composition Award celebrates a composer whose music has profoundly shaped the landscape of film and television, presented to Wiseman for her extraordinary body of work that has become woven into Britain’s cultural life.
CATEGORY AWARDS
BEST CHAMBER ENSEMBLE COMPOSITION – ANIBAL VIDAL FOR ‘INVOCACIÓN N.2: A KINTSUGI RESURRECTION’
London-based Chilean composer Anibal Vidal is a first-time nominee who received his first Ivor Novello Award this evening for Invocación n. 2: A Kintsugi Resurrection. The work features a particularly unique sound palette, employing toy instruments, objects and small percussion alongside trumpet and chamber ensemble. The title refers to the Japanese art of Kintsugi, where broken pottery is repaired with gold, reflecting how the composition deconstructs and reworks two staples of the classical repertoire – Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto, and Mahler’s Second Symphony. Vidal’s work was commissioned by the Britten Sinfonia who performed the world premiere with trumpet soloist Imogen Whitehead and conductor Tom Fetherstonhaugh at St Giles Cripplegate in London.
The judges said the piece “bursts with bold character, clever wit and joyful originality” and commented that “the composer demonstrates highly detailed craft and a brilliantly original voice”.
BEST CHORAL COMPOSITION – ANNA CLYNE FOR ‘ORBITS’
Anna Clyne was awarded her first Ivor Novello Award this evening for Orbits, a piece commissioned and performed by The Sixteen and Harry Christophers at Croydon Minster in London. It is a musical setting of the poem I Live My Life In Growing Orbits by Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke in a translation by American poet Robert Bly.
The judges commented that “Orbits shines with joy and confidence, blending choir and violin in seamless harmony. The work is full of technical skill and control, yet the music soars effortlessly above it”.
BEST COMMUNITY AND PARTICIPATION COMPOSITION in association with ABRSM – JONATHAN DOVE AND APRIL DE ANGELIS FOR ‘UPRISING’
Jonathan Dove received his fourth Ivor Novello Award and librettist April De Angelis received her first for their work Uprising, a community opera co-commissioned by Saffron Hall Trust and Glyndebourne. Focusing on the climate crisis, the opera aims to inspire real change, using a fictional family to emphasise the universality and timelessness of this cause. The work was premiered at Glyndebourne Opera House and performed by 51 adult and 50 youth chorus members from the local community in addition to 6 principal singers, 17 youth instrumentalists, 38 members of Glyndebourne Sinfonia and 8 on-stage percussionists.
The judges said “Uprising is a thrilling work, brilliantly crafted with thought and sophistication. It showcases the power and potential of young voices, tackling an important topic with real impact”.
BEST LARGE ENSEMBLE COMPOSITION – NNEKA CUMMINS FOR ‘FINDING GILLS [WHEN THEY TRY TO DROWN YOU]’
First-time nominee and winner Nneka Cummins received the Best Large Ensemble Composition award for their work finding gills [when they try to drown you]written for chamber orchestra and electronics. Cummins creates cycles of musical fragmentation and disintegration throughout the work, designed to create the feeling of oscillating between the known and the unknown. Commissioned by nonclassical, the work was first performed by the Sinfonia Smith Square Orchestra at Sinfonia Smith Square.
The judges commented that “finding gills [when they try to drown you] creates a mesmerizing underwater sound world, effortlessly blending electronic and acoustic elements. Focused and beautifully orchestrated, it’s a piece you’ll return to again and again.”
BEST ORCHESTRAL COMPOSITION in association with Dorico – HELEN GRIME AND ZOE GILBERT FOR ‘FOLK’
Helen Grime was awarded her second Ivor Novello Award and librettist Zoe Gilbert received her first for their work Folk written for soprano and orchestra. Based on Gilbert’s book of the same name, the songs depict the lives of the people of Neverness, a fictional island inspired by the Isle of Man and its folklore. Commissioned by BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Britten Pears Arts, the BBCSSO performed the premiere alongside Claire Booth and conductor Ryan Wigglesworth at Glasgow City Halls.
The judges said “Folk is dramatic, gritty, and brilliantly crafted, with an imaginative take on folk music. Its emotional intensity and precise, vibrant orchestration keep you gripped from start to finish”.
BEST SMALL CHAMBER COMPOSITION – LUKE MOMBREA FOR ‘BLACK GOLD’
First time nominee and winner Luke Mombrea collected the award for Best Small Chamber Composition for his work Black Gold. The piece commemorates the 1928 Santa Fe Springs oil well fires which lasted over two months, one of the longest oil fires in the state’s history. The piece was commissioned for chamber ensemble and electronics by the London Symphony Orchestra as part of its Discovery Soundhub Showcase and was first performed by Clare Findlater, Colin Alexander, Josie Ellis, Matt Farthing and Luke Mombrea at LSO St Luke’s in London.
The judges commented that “Black Gold has a rich and immersive sound world, blending electronics and percussion with vivid imagination. A highly evocative and visceral work.”