The 2021 Royal Philharmonic Society Awards shortlist was announced on Tuesday 28th September and includes composer Laura Bowler as well as Héloïse Werner's The Hermes Experiment.
Laura Bowler's wicked problems for flute and voice is nominated in the Chamber-scale Composition category. Commissioned by Sound Festival Aberdeen, it received its premiere in October 2020, performed by flautist Ruth Morley and Laura herself as part of 'Gaia', a programme of works that responds to the current climate emergency and celebrates the natural world. You can hear wicked problems here.
Contemporary music ensemble The Hermes Experiment, of which Héloïse Werner is the soprano and a co-director, is nominated in the Young Artist category. Héloïse was previously nominated for an RPS Award in the Young Artist category in 2017 and her lockdown project Coronasolfege received a commendation for the RPS Inspiration Award in 2020.
On this year's nominees, RPS Chief Executive James Murphy says: "We are so pleased to reveal this year’s RPS Awards shortlists, collectively representing the astonishing hard work, generosity and goodwill of musicians throughout the pandemic. In current times, look no further for a good news story about people nationwide giving the best of themselves to support others. Here is proof for anyone who yet needs it of the invaluable, rousing role that musicians can play in the nation’s recovery."
The full shortlist can be read here. The winners will be announced on 1st November 2021 in a ceremony at Wigmore Hall.
