Bethan Morgan-Williams has won the RLPO’s inaugural Christopher Brooks Composition Prize, just weeks after being chosen as one of six composers to take part in the LSO’s Panufnik Composers Scheme.
The annual competition, open to North West composers, is one of a number of new initiatives the RLPO has developed to celebrate its 175th anniversary. Open to any composer aged 18 – 30 living, studying or working in the counties of Merseyside, Cheshire, Cumbria, Lancashire and Greater Manchester, it stands to represent the Orchestra’s continuing commitment to the commissioning performance of new music as well as its interest in supporting home-grown talent.
2014 graduate Bethan, a violist who studied composition with Gary Carpenter, was awarded the £1000 cash prize by a judging panel including Sally Groves (Creative Director, Schott Music) and Andrew Cornall (Artistic Director of the RLPO), in addition to gaining the opportunity to have her winning piece performed by the RLPO and to work alongside the Orchestra’s artist-in-residence, benefiting from the expertise of musicians at the top of their profession.
