Stockhausen world premiere and Olympic performance up for RPS Awards

The shortlists for this year’s Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) Awards have been unveiled. Among this year’s nominations are Birmingham Opera Company’s world premiere of Stockhausen's Mittwoch aus Licht and the LSO’s contribution to the London Olympics Opening Ceremony.

The shortlist for the RPS Awards, which recognise live classical music performances in the UK, also includes, in the conductor category – supported by BBC Music Magazine – Andris Nelsons (right), Kirill Karabits and Richard Farnes.

The world premiere of Stockhausen’s Mittwoch aus Licht, staged by Birmingham Opera Company, is shortlisted in the Opera and Music Theatre category alongside ENO’s production of Caligula, English Touring Opera’s autumn season and Aldeburgh Music and the Barbican Centre’s joint production of Oliver Knussen’s Where the Wild Things Are and Higglety Pigglety Pop!.

The performers on the shortlist for the instrumental award are percussionist Colin Currie, and pianists Francesco Piemontesi (who won Best Newcomer at last year's BBC Music Magazine Awards) and Steven Osborne. Mezzo-soprano Alice Coote is shortlisted for the singer award, as are tenor Bryan Hymel, baritone Bryn Terfel and mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly.

This year’s shortlist also features a nod to the Olympics Opening Ceremony, specifically for the LSO’s On Track initiative which saw 80 young musicians perform an arrangement of Elgar’s ‘Nimrod’ from the Enigma Variations at the Opening Ceremony in 2012.

The winners of the RPS Awards will be announced in a ceremony at the Dorchester Hotel on 14 May and BBC Music Magazine will reveal all the winners in our next issue, on sale 15 June.

The full shortlist is listed below. For more information visit the RPS Music Awards website.

Audiences and Engagement
Southampton's Musical Alphabet (Turner Sims)
The Big Concert (Sistema Scotland, Opening Night of London 2012 Festival)
Universe of Sound: (Philharmonia Orchestra)

Chamber Music and Song
Elias Quartet
Exaudi
Music in the Round

Chamber-Scale Composition
Colin Matthews: String Quartet No. 4
Rebecca Saunders: Fletch

Tansy Davies: Nature

Concert Series and Festivals
BBC Proms
New Music 20x12 (PRS for Music Foundation)
sound Festival (North East Scotland)

Conductor
Andris Nelsons
Kirill Karabits
Richard Farnes

Creative Communication
Classic fm
Jane Manning: Voicing Pierrot

Tom Service for Tom Adès: Full of Noises and Music as Alchemy (Faber)

Ensemble
Britten Sinfonia
Ex Cathedra
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Instrumentalist
Colin Currie (percussion)
Francesco Piemontesi (piano)
Steven Osborne (piano)

Large-Scale Composition
Gerald Barry: The Importance of Being Earnest
Harrison Birtwistle: In Broken Images

Julian Anderson: The Discovery of Heaven

Learning and Participation
Anthem for a Child (Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment)
Cycle Song (Proper Job Theatre Company and Scunthorpe Co- operative Junior Choir)
Drake Music Scotland: Technophonia by Oliver Searle (New Music 20x12)
LSO On Track at the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics

Opera and Music Theatre
Caligula (ENO)
English Touring Opera (autumn season)
Knussen doublebill (Aldeburgh/Barbican)
Mittwoch aus Licht (Birmingham Opera Company)

Singer
Alice Coote
Bryan Hymel
Bryn Terfel
Sarah Connolly

Young Artists
Daniil Trifonov (piano)
Duncan Rock (baritone)
Heath Quartet