Royal Philharmonic Society announces 2021 RPS Awards

Thursday, September 2, 2021

The 2021 RPS Award will welcome back live audiences to Wigmore Hall on 1 November.

Aberdeen Saxophone Orchestra, one of the nominees for this year's Inspiration Award

The 2021 Royal Philharmonic Society Awards will take place at London’s Wigmore Hall on Monday 1 November.

The Awards celebrate the outstanding, the pioneering and the inspirational in both amateur and professional classical music.

This year, in addition to the usual categories, for the first time the winner of the Inspiration Award will be decided by the public. The Inspiration Award was newly introduced last year for those who inspired the nation in the first months of lockdown, commending professional and non-professional musicians alike.

This year – and from now on – the RPS will present the award outright to a non-professional ensemble or to an individual who works with such groups, often overlooked. A shortlist of six has been assembled by a panel who themselves work year-round with non-professional groups and, from these, the public is invited to vote for whom they feel should receive this year’s award.

The six shortlisted nominees are:

The closing date for votes is 11am on Thursday 30 September. To vote visit www.royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk.

The winners of all 13 categories will be announced at the 2021 RPS Awards at Wigmore Hall, London, at 7.30pm on Monday 1 November.

Also announced today, from this year onwards the awards will take place at a different UK classical music venue each year, and from 2023 the RPS commits to presenting them for the first time at a venue outside London.

RPS chief executive James Murphy says: ‘Some people have asked us if there’s been sufficient music to celebrate with the RPS Awards this year. Brace yourselves for a story of tremendous resilience, creativity and musicians finding ways against all the odds to inspire others. We’re so pleased to applaud the countless non-professional musicians across the country through the new Inspiration Award, and welcome the music-loving public to join in the festivities as never before, casting their vote for the Inspiration Award and joining us for the Awards celebration, for which tickets have never been cheaper.’

Shortlisted nominees in the other categories will be announced in late September on BBC Radio 3, longstanding RPS Awards Partner.

General booking to attend the 2021 RPS Awards will open on Friday 10 September.