This prize and the RPS-Duet Young Instrumentalist Prize ran for two years between 2016-2017.

Fraz Ireland attended Pate’s Grammar School in Cheltenham. They play percussion, clarinet and piano, and they have sung in a number of local choirs. As a composer, Fraz had their setting of Jeremiah’s Lamentations performed by The Tallis Scholars and broadcast on BBC Radio 3 as the winning piece of the NCEM young composers’ competition 2014.

They have been commissioned to write a number of works for local choirs including the Tewkesbury Abbey choir, Gloucester Choral Society, and the Oriel singers. In 2014 they were a finalist in the Nonclassical Composers Competition, with a piece that involved musicians and singers in four different countries playing a work via video links, this piece was singled out for praise by The Daily Telegraph.

In 2016, Fraz was principal composer for the National Youth Orchestra, having joined the orchestra's cohort of teenage composers in 2013; their music has been performed by members of the NYO in Birmingham Symphony Hall, Tate Britain, the Royal Festival Hall and other prestigious venues.

Fraz was appointed RPS/Wigmore Hall Apprentice Composer, a new initiative announced in 2016. In this role, Fraz enjoyed coaching from Wigmore Hall Composer in Residence, Helen Grime. Their apprenticeship ran throughout Wigmore Hall’s 2016-17 season, during which time They also wrote a new work, Puzzled, performed by Cavendish Winds which you can hear here: