Errollyn Wallen to receive Ivors Academy Fellowship

The Ivors Academy has today announced that it will award its highest honour, the Academy Fellowship, to composer Errollyn Wallen. The Belize-born British composer and performer will be inducted into Fellowship at the Ivors Classical Awards which is set to take place on 12 November in London.

Wallen, who became the first woman to receive an Ivor Novello award for Classical Music in 2013, is recognised for her ‘outstanding contribution to contemporary classical music’. She will receive an Ivor Novello Award and become a member of The Ivors Academy.

Wallen said: ‘I am deeply touched to receive this Academy Fellowship and am most honoured to join the twenty-seven illustrious musicians who are my predecessors. I would like to take this opportunity to give thanks for the guidance and encouragement I have received along my journey to becoming a composer — and for the lively artistic community of which I am part.’

Wallen is one of the top 20 most performed living composers of classical music in the world, with a catalogue including 22 operas alongside orchestral, chamber and vocal compositions and was the first black woman to have a work featured in the Proms. As an Ivors Academy Fellow, Wallen joins 27 other composers and songwriters who have been inducted since 2000. You can find a full list here.

Ivors Academy CEO Roberto Neri said ‘By bestowing Errollyn with The Ivors Academy’s highest honour, we not only celebrate her remarkable talent but also reaffirm our mission to protect, empower and champion composers and songwriters. It is fitting that she joins the extraordinary roll call of Fellows from across music who have left an indelible mark on both culture and our lives.’