Royal Philharmonic Society supports young musicians with £91,000

The Royal Philharmonic Society's Young Musicians Programme is making awards totally £91,000 this year, supporting outstanding instrumentalists, ensembles and composers in ongoing professional development. There are 13 commissions for young composers, rare opportunities for further study abroad and recognition for two outstanding chamber ensembles and a young violinist. £20,000 has been made available to enable music students in financial need to purchase much needed quality instruments.

Six new works are being commissioned by the RPS Composition Prize; Eugene Birman, Austin Leung and Freya Waley-Cohen will write for the Philharmonia Orchestra's Music of Today series; Bethan Morgan-Williams will write a new work for Cheltenham Festival, Emmanuel Charalabopoulos for Presteigne Festival, and Laurence Osborn for Music in the Round, Sheffield, for performances in 2018. The RPS has joined forces with Classic FM to commission works by seven young composers (16 and 23 years old) as part of the station’s 25th birthday celebrations; works by Alexander Woolf, Alexia Sloane, Jack Pepper, Benjamin Rimmer, Dani Howard, Marco Galvani and Oliver Muxworthy will be premiered throughout the summer and autumn, and recorded for broadcast on Classic FM.

£30,000 has been awarded for two musicians, percussionist Tom Pritchard and harpist Richard Allen, to study abroad. £20,000 is being made available to help music students in financial need purchase their own instruments essential to their professional studies through the RPS Instrument Purchase Grants; these are not loans, the Society provides one-off non-repayable awards and payback comes purely in the form of the startling musical progress that can be made on an appropriate, quality instrument.

The RPS Henderson Chamber Ensemble Award, offers £5,000 to an emerging, UK-based chamber ensemble and the Pelleas Ensemble has won the award, which will be devoted to developing performance opportunities. Other prizes include the RPS Albert and Eugenie Frost Prize won the Marmen String Quartet, the RPS Emily Anderson Prize won by violinist Amarins Wierdsma. Applications are now open for the RPS Duet Prizes for outstanding young instrumentalists and composers of secondary school age.

Full details from the Royal Philharmonic Society website.