Winners of the Scottish Awards for New Music 2020 Announced

Matthew Whiteside

Winners of the Scottish Awards for New Music 2020 Announced

Matthew Whiteside, Aidan O’Rourke and Kit Downes, Judith Weir, and Stuart McRae among winners.

The winners of the Scottish Awards for New Music were announced on 14 April during an online ceremony that was hosted on YouTube. 

Tenor and BBC Radio Scotland presenter Jamie MacDougall presented the awards, which aim to celebrate new music and artists in Scotland. 

Stuart MacRae won the award for Large Scale New Work, with his opera Anthropocene, which premiered in January 2019. The Good Spirits Co Award for Innovation in New Traditional Music was awarded to Aidan O’Rourke and Kit Downes for their album 365, Vol. 2, while Ben Lunn was awarded The RCS Award for Making it Happen for his Diversions project, which saw disabled musicians from Drake Music Scotland’s Digital Orchestra perform a new work by the composer, Symphonies of Instruments.

Drake Music Scotland also received the RCS Award for Contribution to New Music in Scotland, and the award for Recorded New Work went to Airs from Another Planet: Chamber Music and Songs by Judith Weir. Composer Matthew Whiteside was awarded the SMIA Award for Creative Programming for his contemporary music concert series The Night With….

See the full list of nominees and winners below. For more on the awards, visit www.newmusicscotland.co.uk/

Large Scale New Work (11+ performers) sponsored by PRS for Music
David Fenessy: Conquest of the Useless
Stuart MacRae: Anthropocene (winner)
Thea Musgrave: Trumpet Concerto

The RCS Award for Contribution to New Music in Scotland
Cathie Boyd
Chamber Music Scotland
Drake Music Scotland (winner)

The RCS Award for Making it Happen
The Night With…: Matthew Whiteside
Nordic Viola: Katherine Wren
Ben Lunn: Diversions (winner)

The ISM prize for Collaboration
Physical Education: Robert Reid Allan
Diversions: Ben Lunn (winner)
Rough Breathing: Nichola Scrutton

Scottish New Music Performer(s) of the Year
Sarah Watts
Richard Craig
Scottish Ensemble (winner)

Environment Sustainability
Below the Blanket: Cryptic
Chamber Music Scotland
Nevis Ensemble (winner)

The Dorico Award for Small / Medium Scale New Work (1 - 10 performers) sponsored by Steinberg
Two Panels for String Quartet: Alistair White
The Wet Desert - A Collection of Highland Perspectives: Lisa Robertson
The Tuning: Martin Suckling (winner)

Electroacoustic / Sound Artwork 
Dhātu: Edwin Hillier (winner)
Listening Cave: Calum Scott
…shadows that in darkness dwell…: Timothy Cooper

Community/Education project
Tinderbox Collective (winner)
SCO Soundmoves
Sound Symphony: Ellie Griffiths with Sonia Allori, Shioi Usui and Greg Sinclair, Katy Wilson (designer) and Colin Grenfell (lighting)

The Good Spirits Co Award for Innovation in New Traditional Music
365: Aidan O’Rourke and Kit Downes (winner)
The Reeling: Brighde Chaimbeul
Face to Face: Twelfth Day

Recorded New Work
Airs from Another Planet: Chamber Music and Songs by Judith Weir. Hebrides Ensemble/Delphian Records (winner)
Sensations of Travel: Chamber Music by Nigel Osborne. Hebrides Ensemble/Delphian Records
Panopticon: David Fennessy / Psappha / Hebrides Ensemble / NMC

The SMIA Award for Creative Programming
The Night With…: Matthew Whiteside (winner)
Diversions: Ben Lunn / Drake Music Scotland’s Digital Orchestra and Hebrides Ensemble
Sound Festival: Fiona Robertson

Published on 17 April 2020

comments powered by Disqus