You can read all the news below, and here – for a limited time – we are pleased to share the complete film of the event for you to watch freely.

The winners of the 2025 RPS Awards – billed by The Sunday Times as 'the biggest night in UK classical music' – were announced this evening, Thursday 6 March, celebrating classical music’s vibrant and vital impact, resonance, and reach nationwide. Music-makers and music-lovers gathered at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire as the RPS Awards visited the West Midlands for the first time. The RPS Awards were hosted by BBC Radio 3 presenters Jess Gillam and Tom McKinney with trophies presented by RPS Chair Angela Dixon.

The event culminated with the much-coveted Ensemble Award, presented to the pioneering Paraorchestra which brings together professional disabled and non-disabled musicians. As presenter Jess Gillam said in the presentation: ‘Paraorchestra should be the Pride of Britain. They are inspirational in their care and creativity putting disabled musicians centre-stage. Those musicians are pioneering how orchestras and audiences interact. They are invigorating concert halls with thrilling experiences. Here’s to Paraorchestra and its disabled musicians, showing us all a way forward.’

Disabled artists were notably celebrated. Belfast’s Open Arts Community Choir and its dedicated music director Beverley McGeown received the much-anticipated Inspiration Award celebrating the UK’s non-professional ensembles, and the sole RPS Award voted for by the public. The choir sets exceptional musical standards, uniting disabled and non-disabled people from different backgrounds through the power of song. The Chamber-Scale Composition Award was awarded 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, the composition for solo piano captures Sarah’s reflections on new motherhood, balancing a career with caregiving, and the impact of this on her disability. It features on the first commercial album to showcase UK disabled composers, produced by NMC Recordings whose remarkable mission celebrating new music earned them the prestigious Gamechanger Award. 

As presenter Tom McKinney said in the presentation: ‘NMC Recordings is new music’s national treasure. It’s a small organisation that gives vital voice and visibility to composers, putting the creative forces behind the music in the limelight. It opens the ears of millions of music-lovers each year to thrilling sounds and new discoveries. NMC gives audiences a unique portal into the world-class creativity of British and Irish composers.’ In a video message, Sir Simon Rattle said: ‘In our profession, we really need to be evangelists for music. NMC has been this from the word go, recording the music of nearly 500 composers from the British Isles. They’re making our art form live and breathe in a most spectacular way.’

The power of music UK-wide was recognised, with winners from all four nations: in the face of stark funding cuts, Welsh National Opera received the Opera and Music Theatre Award for Britten’s Death in Venice, sensationally combining opera and acrobatics; composer Sir James MacMillan accepted the Series and Events Award for Scottish festival The Cumnock Tryst where local residents and international musicians share the stage to thrilling effect; Open Arts Community Choir were the first Northern Ireland ensemble to take home the Inspiration Award; and Streetwise Opera’s Re:Discover Festival received the Impact Award for their life-changing work in Nottingham, Manchester and London, empowering people who have lived with homelessness to build skills and self-worth through music-making.

Taking place for the first time in Birmingham, the RPS Awards presentation showcased local talent. The show opened with a performance of Alec Roth’s Sometime I Sing by Ex Cathedra Student Scholars and celebrated Birmingham conductor Jeffrey Skidmore. Birmingham music-makers were recognised with nominations for Wolverhampton Symphony Orchestra, the CBSO Chorus, Ex Cathedra’s Singing Medicine weekly brightening the prospects of patients at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and Birmingham Opera Company’s landmark production of Michael Tippett’s New Year involving hundreds of citizens. The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s Music Director Kazuki Yamada received the Conductor Award, for his must-see concerts at Symphony Hall, and setting a gold standard in his embrace of the community, delighting citizens in the Bullring shopping centre and on the city’s trams.

The Instrumentalist Award was presented to cellist Laura van der Heijden and the Singer Award to soprano Claire Booth, both of whom have performed extensively across the UK. Composer Katherine Balch’s whisper concerto, premiered by BBC Philharmonic, received the Large-Scale Composition Award. BBC Radio 3’s Classical Africa received the Storytelling Award in which double-bassist Leon Bosch presents a complex and captivating tapestry of sounds and ideas from a continent whose music is too often overlooked. The Young Artist Award was presented to GBSR Duo: percussionist George Barton and pianist Siwan Rhys whose commitment to new music is inspirational and so worth following.

Further live musical performances at the RPS Awards included Florence Price’s Night by cellist Laura van der Heijden with pianist Joachim Lim, and Grant McLachlan’s Abdi by double bassist Leon Bosch with pianist Maria Linares Molero: both pianists are Royal Birmingham Conservatoire students. Instrumentalist Award nominee Ben Goldscheider also performed Jörg Widmann’s Air for solo horn.

To a capacity audience, RPS Chair Angela Dixon said ‘The RPS Awards have a story to tell about classical music-making in the UK today that is both inspiring and humbling. It’s a story of extraordinary musicians living extraordinary lives, giving the best of themselves and making a difference. Behind each of the awards tonight is a community of audiences, participants, and creative forces. We’re here this evening to recognise excellence in classical music in all of its forms and to celebrate the impact our sector is having on people in all walks of life.’

The RPS Awards unite many partners from the UK’s classical music community. The RPS is especially grateful to this year’s Principal Supporters – BBC Radio 3, ABRSM, BBC Music Magazine, Dorico from Steinberg and PRS for Music – and those who support individual awards as detailed below. Complimentary interval drinks for all attendees were served with kind support from Decca Classics.

Longstanding Awards partner BBC Radio 3 will broadcast a special RPS Awards programme at 7.30pm on Friday 7 March, available for a further month on BBC Sounds, giving audiences the opportunity to hear more music from this year’s winners. A film of the RPS Awards presentation will be freely available to watch for one month on the RPS website from Monday 17 March.

A complete list of this year’s RPS Awards follows. Click the title of each award to find out more.

Chamber-Scale Composition Sarah Lianne Lewis – letting the light in
supported by Boosey & Hawkes in memory of Tony Fell

Conductor Kazuki Yamada
supported by Newzik

Ensemble Paraorchestra
supported by Outhere Music Group

Gamechanger NMC Recordings
supported by I Can Compose

Impact Re:Discover Festival – Streetwise Opera
supported by Oxford University Press Music

Inspiration Open Arts Community Choir
supported by Presto Music

Instrumentalist Laura van der Heijden – cello
supported by ISM, the Independent Society of Musicians

Large-Scale Composition Katherine Balch – whisper concerto
supported by The Boltini Trust

Opera and Music Theatre Death in Venice – Welsh National Opera
supported by Wise Music Group

Series and Events The Cumnock Tryst
supported by Warner Classics

Singer Claire Booth – soprano
supported by Jenny Hodgson

Storytelling Classical Africa – BBC Radio 3
supported by Martin Randall Festivals

Young Artist GBSR Duo
supported by Sir Simon and Victoria, Lady Robey CBE

For press enquiries about the RPS Awards, please contact Maddie Castell at RDMR.