Skip to main content

TL nominated for RPS Award 2020

Mon 16 November 2020

Errollyn Wallen and TL students recognised in this year’s shortlist

A registered charity, the Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) has been at the heart of music for over 200 years, championing the vital role that music plays. The society’s annual awards celebrate the great feats achieved in classical music over the past year.

Composition professor Errollyn Wallen’s This Frame is Part of the Painting has been shortlisted for the RPS Award for Large-scale Composition. The category is for an outstandingly imaginative and engaging large-scale work that has received its first UK performance in the last concert year.

Inspired by the work of painter Howard Hodgkins, the piece for soprano and orchestra was premiered at the BBC Proms 2019 by Catriona Morison and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Elim Chan.

Errollyn comments –

“I put my whole heart into composing This Frame is Part of the Painting to honour the work of painter Howard Hodgkin. I’m delighted it has been nominated for an RPS award.”

In addition to the nomination, Errollyn has just released Peace on Earth, her new EP of choral music with King’s College Choir.

Also nominated in the Large-scale Composition category is The Fish that became the Sun by English composer Frank Denyer. Originally written in the early nineties, the epic piece received its premiere last year at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival performed by vocal ensemble Rubythroat (postgraduate students Helen Daniels, Anna Marmion and Ruby Nightingale, led by vocal tutor Linda Hurst), TL percussionists and the Octandre Ensemble.

The 2020 Large-scale Composition shortlist has been decided by a select group of industry specialists including Meurig Bowen, Chief Executive and Artistic Director of Britten Sinfonia, and composer Sally Beamish. The winners will be announced in a streamed digital ceremony on Wednesday 18 November at 19.00 on the RPS website.