I was lucky enough to attend the British Composer Awards last night, held at the British Museum, London.

The ceremony was presented by Andrew McGregor and Sara Mohr-Pietsch of Radio Three and there were performances of selected pieces from Jeremy Dale Roberts’ Croquis by members of the Kreutzer Quartet. You can see the complete list of nominees in a previous post, here.

The winners were as follows:

Amateur or Young Performers

Who We Are by Kerry Andrew

Chamber Ensemble

Skin by Rebecca Saunders

Choral

Proclamation of the Republic by Andrew Hamilton

Community or Educational Project

Anything but Bland by Brian Irvine

Contemporary Jazz Composition

Muted Lines by Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian

Orchestral

Torus (Concerto for Orchestra) by Emily Howard

Small Chamber 

In Feyre Foreste by Robin Haigh

Solo or Duo

Inside Colour by Deborah Pritchard

Sonic Art

Luminous Birds by Kathy Hinde

Stage Works

4.48 Psychosis by Philip Venables

Wind Band or Brass Band

In Ictu Oculi by Kenneth Hesketh

There were also two special awards (without shortlists):

British Composer Award for Innovation

Shiva Feshareki

British Composer Award for Inspiration

Nigel Osborne

The ceremony was followed by some rather tasty bowl food, copious amounts of wine and very entertaining chatter from a room that was stuffed full of the UK’s finest composing talent. Here are a few pictures from the evening.

The composers gather:

Andrew McGregor and Sara Mohr-Pietsch begin the presentations:

Kerry Andrew (left), winner of the children’s choir category:

Shiva Feshareki (centre), British Composer Award for Innovation: