The composer Alexander Goehr and the opera director Sir David Pountney have both been made Honorary Members of the Royal Philharmonic Society in recognition of their outstanding services to music.

The RPS has opened applications for its roster of Instrumentalist Prizes for soloists and ensembles.

We are delighted to announce the winners of the 2019 RPS Julius Isserlis Scholarship for instrumentalists pursuing studies abroad.

Janet Fulton, Principal Percussionist of Manchester Camerata, has been awarded the prestigious Salomon Prize, presented by the Royal Philharmonic Society and Association of British Orchestras.

By RPS Composer Grace-Evangeline Mason

Discovering conducting mid-career transformed Helen Thomas' approach to making music. An academic first and foremost, she's been growing her baton portfolio over the last few years, including an RPS Women Conductors course in 2017. It's what inspired her to bring Women Conductors to the University of Liverpool last month. She now conducts Chester Sinfonia alongside her busy teaching schedule. In this week's blog, she writes about how conducting opened doors for her, her new ensemble partnership, and her work for women in music.

Life's been full of surprises for composer Daniel Fardon since his Wigmore Hall Apprenticeship took off. He's immersed himself in their Learning Department and written sketches for an art installation, working with the Bloomsbury Quartet who'll perform his commission in July. Find out what he's been up to in our latest blog...

Acclaimed composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim has been made an Honorary Member of the Royal Philharmonic Society in recognition of his outstanding services to music.

Three years ago, Olivia Clarke caught the conducting bug at one of our Women Conductors courses, after just ten minutes conducting a string quartet. Now about to complete her Masters in Conducting in Berlin, she’s looking ahead to her first professional engagements on the orchestral podium. She writes here about the challenges and rewards of conducting, and the solidarity she's found from meeting other female musicians experiencing the same struggles as her own.

Fiona Robertson, Director of the acclaimed Scottish new music organisation sound, is to be awarded the prestigious Leslie Boosey Award by the Royal Philharmonic Society.

We are pleased to announce two significant new short courses as part of our thriving Women Conductors programme which aims to address gender inequality on the conducting podium.

A musician can spend years looking for the ideal instrument, researching different schools of maker, trying dozens of models, before finally landing upon 'the one'. Meanwhile, they face the challenges of funding the purchase - a daunting prospect if you don't know where to begin. Bassoonist Ashby Mayes, who received a £3,000 grant from the RPS to help purchase a new bassoon, spent a year searching and fundraising for his instrument. He writes about how he did it, the cities he visited, and what he learned along the way.