Kazuki Yamada, Claire Booth and the Paraorchestra are among the winners of Royal Philharmonic Society’s 2025 Awards on Thursday. The awards were hosted by Jess Gillam and Tom McKinney in Birmingham.
The Ensemble award, given to Paraorchestra, formed the culmination of the evening. Presented Jess Gillam commented: “Paraorchestra are inspirational in their care and creativity putting disabled musicians centre-stage, and pioneering how orchestras and audiences interact.
Disabled artists were featured in several awards. The Chamber-Scale Composition Award went to Welsh composer Sarah Lianne Lewis for letting the light in, composed as part of Drake Music Scotland and the Disabled Artist Network’s Beyond Borders, Beyond Barriers initiative.
Belfast’s Open Arts Community Choir also received the RPS’s Inspiration Award, which celebrates the UK’s non-professional ensembles. It is also the only award given through a public vote. Streetwise Opera’s Re:Discover Festival received the Impact award, for their work in Nottingham, Manchester and London. The festival works to empower people experiencing homelessness, through music-making and performance.
Birmingham’s own Kazuki Yamada, chief conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, was honoured with the Conductor award. The Singer award went to soprano Claire Booth, with the Instrumentalist award going to young cellist Laura van der Heijden, the 2012 winner of BBC Young Musician of the Year.
Welsh National Opera also received an award for their production of Death in Venice, with Scottish festival The Cumnock Tryst receiving an award for best Event Series.
Contemporary music was also honoured at this year’s awards, with the Gamechanger award being given to NMC Recordings, a longstanding British record label dedicated to recordings of contemporary music. US composer Katherine Balch was given the award for best Large-Scale Composition, for her whisper concerto, premiered in 2024 by the BBC Philharmonic and Joshua Weilerstein. The Young Artist award went to GBSR Duo, a piano and percussion duo specialising in contemporary music performance.
BBC Radio 3’s series Classical Africa, presented by Leon Bosch, was also given the award for Storytelling. The ceremony itself is broadcast on BBC Radio 3 at 7:30pm on 7th March.
Performances at the ceremony were given by nominees Ben Goldscheider, Laura van der Heijden and Leon Bosch, together with students from Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. A film of the ceremony will be available from 17th March.
