Classical music’s biggest awards comes to the West Midlands and honors disabled musicians

The winners of the 2025 Royal Philharmonic Society Awards were announced at an inspiring awards ceremony attended by hundreds of music makers and music lovers at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

It was the first time that the prestigious RPS Awards have been held in the West Midlands. 

BBC Radio 3 presenters Jess Gillam and Tom McKinney led the ceremony last night (Thursday, March 6) 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 onstage: ‘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.’

Wolverhampton Symphony Orchestra was among the shortlisted nominees for the Inspiration category which each received more than 1,000 public votes. The amateur musicians saw Belfast’s Open Arts Community Choir and its dedicated music director Beverley McGeown win the category. The choir sets exceptional musical standards, uniting disabled and non-disabled people from different backgrounds through the power of song.

West Midlands musicians did not go away empty handed, however. 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 our trams.

Kazuki comments: “This is such a special moment for me. My predecessor at the CBSO, Sir Simon Rattle, was the first to win this coveted conductor award back in 1990, and every CBSO Music Director since then has likewise been honoured in this way. I am hugely thankful to receive the same recognition, and would like to thank my orchestra and colleagues at the CBSO and, more importantly, to my many friends in the wonderful city of Birmingham and around the world”

“My relationships with orchestras in Japan shaped my early career and I always carry my Japanese feeling for music with me. Alongside my time in Japan and Birmingham, I must thank the musicians and colleagues at the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, to whom I am enormously thankful. The CBSO is a big family, and I am so happy to be part of it.”

West Midlands music-makers were also recognised with nominations for 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. 

Who were the other RPS Awards 2025 winners?

Other RPS Award winners included the Chamber-Scale Composition Award which was awarded to Welsh composer Sarah Lianne Lewis for letting the light in. 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. In a video message, former CBSO conductor, Sir Simon Rattle said: ‘In our profession, we really need to be evangelists for music. NMC Recordings 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; 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.

The awards show opened with a performance of Alec Roth’s Sometime I Sing by Ex Cathedra Student Scholars and celebrated Birmingham conductor Jeffrey Skidmore. 

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 the 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.

Can I watch the RPS Awards 2025 ceremony now?

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.