Peter Tranchell Foundation reveals composition prize winners

The Peter Tranchell Foundation has announced the results of its Annual Composition Prize. The overall winner was Will Harmer for his entries Lullaby and Summer Dance, while the second prize went to Ian Shaw for his cycle Songs for Peter and the third prize was awarded to Guy Turner for his Three in Three songs.

Four further entries received commendations from the judging panel. Chaired by David Hill, the panel also included composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad, soprano Mary Bevan, conductors William Vann and Jonna Wikeley, pianist Lucy Colquhoun and last year's winner Dónal McCann.

A Peter Tranchell Foundation spokesperson said: ‘This was the third year of the Composition Prize, and we were very pleased to see it growing in popularity, with compositions of high quality submitted from around the world. Peter would have been thrilled to see his own lost song titles and melodies brought back to life in such imaginative ways.’

This year’s competition was focused around the theme of Peter Tranchell’s lost songs. Tranchell wrote hundreds of songs, many of which have gone missing. Composers were invited to use the titles of these lost works – preserved in Tranchell's own lists – as inspiration for new songs.

Feedback from the Judging Panel noted the ‘impressive strength in depth in the submitted songs’ and mentioned that ‘leading entries chang[ed] positions several times as the marking and discussions progressed’. Judges were unaware of the composers’ identities throughout the evaluation process, but noted that ‘it came as a lovely surprise that our 2nd and 3rd prize winners had been students of Peter Tranchell.’

The winning entries will be performed by jury members Mary Bevan, William Vann and Lucy Colquhoun alongside tenor James Gilchrist at the Foundation’s concert in St Paul’s Knightsbridge on 9 November. The programme will complement the new works with songs and piano music by Tranchell himself.