New Cobbett Composition Prize

The Berkeley Ensemble - photo: Nigel Luckhurst

The original Cobbett Competition, created by the philanthropist Walter Willson Cobbett, was responsible for commisioning works from Benjamin Britten, Frank Bridge and RVW. Now the Berkeley Ensemble has instituted the New Cobbett Composition Prize in emulation of the original. The public final of the first New Cobbett Composition Prize will take place tonight (10 December 2014) at The Forge, Camden.

The semi-finalists for the competition were announced in October and each composer got the chance to workshop their composition with Michael Berkely and the ensemble at public masterclasses. At tonight's final, Colin Matthew's Fantazia 13 will be performed alongside the works by the six finalists: Samuel Lewis, Barnaby Martin, Laurence Osborn, Nicholas Peters and James Woodhall. The winning work and the runner up will be recorded by the ensemble for Resonus Classics in 2015.

The Berkeley Ensemble was founded in 2007 by members of the Southbank Sinfonia. Their first commission, Michael Berkeley's Clarion Call and Gallop was recorded on their debut recording (see my review)