Celebrating classical music, jazz and sound-art: the 20th edition of the Ivors Composer Awards

Cheryl Frances-Hoad accepts the Ivor Novello Award
for Large Ensemble from Michelle Escoffery
(Photo: Mark Allan Photography)

This year's Ivors Composer Awards (the 20th) have been announced, and congratulations to all the winners, and it is heartening to see Judith Weir and George Benjamin both getting more general awards for their body of work. Seven composers received an award for the first time, Brett Dean, Joanna Marsh, Liz Dilnot Johnson, Tori Freestone, Laurence Crane, Hannah Conway and Talvin Singh.

The awards ceremony was hosted by BBC Radio 3’s Hannah Peel and Tom Service at the British Museum, will be broadcast on the station’s New Music Show on 19 November 2022.

We managed to catch two of the works nominated, Cheryl Frances-Hoad's song cycle, Scenes from the Wild, see my review, and the Royal Ballet's Dante Project with Thomas Adès's score.

THE IVORS COMPOSER AWARDS 2022 WINNERS
ACADEMY FELLOWSHIP - JUDITH WEIR

• CHAMBER ENSEMBLE - MADAME MA BONNE SŒUR composed by Brett Dean, for mezzo-soprano and string quartet
• CHORAL - ALL SHALL BE WELL composed by Joanna Marsh, for unaccompanied choir
• COMMUNITY AND PARTICIPATION - WHEN A CHILD IS A WITNESS – REQUIEM FOR REFUGEES composed by Liz Dilnot Johnson, for choir, children's choir, mezzo soprano solo, organ, piano, violin/Hardanger fiddle and refugee groups
• INNOVATION AWARD in association with the Musicians’ Union - TALVIN SINGH
• JAZZ ENSEMBLE - BIRDS OF PARADISE composed by Tori Freestone, for jazz trio (flute/triangle, vocals and piano)
• LARGE ENSEMBLE - SCENES FROM THE WILD composed by Cheryl Frances-Hoad, for tenor and chamber orchestra
• ORCHESTRAL - TO AN UTTERANCE composed by Rebecca Saunders, for piano and orchestra
• OUTSTANDING WORKS COLLECTION - GEORGE BENJAMIN
• SMALL CHAMBER - NATURAL WORLD composed by Laurence Crane, for soprano and piano / sampler keyboard
• SOUND ART - THE SOUND VOICE PROJECT: PAUL, I LEFT MY VOICE BEHIND AND TANJA by Hannah Conway, performance installation exploring stories of voice loss and identity.
• STAGE WORKS - DANTE composed by Thomas Adès, ballet in three parts, for orchestra with pre-recorded voices and female choir