RPS Prizes for RNCM Composers

RNCM alumni Michael Cutting and Daniel Kidane and current MMus student Thomas Stewart are three of five composers to win a 2013 Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize.

Open to composers under the age of 29 who study or have studied at any UK conservatoire or university, the RPS Composition Prize gives young writers the chance to composer a work for a prestigious professional performance.

Michael, who graduated in 2011 with an MMus in Composition, was one of three composers to win the top award and will now join the Philharmonia’s Young Composers Academy (in partnership with the Royal Philharmonic Society), and will be commissioned to write a piece for members of the Philharmonia to be performed as part of the Music of Today Series. He will also attend regular workshops and seminars throughout the year.

Daniel, a 2012 MMus graduate, was awarded the RPS/Presteigne Festival Alan Horne Memorial commission for a small work to be premièred in the Presteigne Festival and Thomas, who is studying with Larry Goves, won the Susan Bradshaw Composers Fund Commission to write a chamber work for the Cheltenham Festival.

Speaking of this trio of successes, Adam Gorb, Head of Composition at the RNCM, said: ‘This great news reflects excellently on the opportunities afforded to composers in writing for large ensembles at the RNCM.’

Michael, Daniel and Thomas’ success follows swiftly behind that of recent graduate Jae-Moon Lee who is one of six composers to be selected for the London Symphony Orchestra’s Discovery Panufnik Young Composers Scheme, which offers the opportunity to write for a world-class symphony orchestra.

31 July 2013