A year of classical music talent poignantly recognised in a spectacular ceremony.
The Royal Philharmonic Society Awards is a culmination of the year’s classical music talents, ranging from single performers, large-scale compositions and everything in between. The nominee list was so wide-ranging that it’s hard to know how they trimmed it to two hours.
The guests looked resplendent, a compilation of metallics, colour and the best accessory of all, anticipation. Rerecorded for BBC3, the event went smoothly as butter, presented by effervescent hosts Georgia Mann and Petroc Trelawny. The awards were presented to their respective winners by RPS Chair Angela Dixon.
A core theme throughout the proceedings was the need to nurture seeds of passion for classical music, regardless of background, and to pursue genres and instruments mainstream society often perceives as inaccessible or outdated. The nominees ranged in age, gender, region, disability, financial or professional status, evoking a sense of diversity that felt like galvanisation. Every single award clearly meant the world to everyone who won, but they all spoke of the constant hard work needed, the barriers they face and the village it takes to get them there.
A standout moment was the recipient of the Singer award, soprano Louise Adler. She collected her award holding her 2-week-old newborn girl, Robin – an incredibly bold statement to make as she spoke of the troubles self-employed mothers face- she returns to singing next week. Another feminist nod went to trumpeter Matilda Lloyd, who used her speech for Young Artist to dedicate her award to all the women who face barriers in the brass band sector. Scottish organisations did well too, with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra winning the Ensemble Award, and Kirkcaldy Orchestral Society winning the Inspiration Award.
Woven into the wonderful atmosphere were performances, in one case by Matilda Lloyd herself. The audience, despite coming from all corners of the UK (and beyond), felt like a catch-up with old friends. Strangers and collaborators alike, bound together by the power of their love of classical music and the genuine force for good it is capable of, in the RPS’s case, since 1813. The fabulous show was rounded off by the blisteringly talented musical polymath Jacob Collier, who won the coveted Gamechanger Award. Previous recipients have been organist Anna Lapwood and conductor Jane Glover. He bounded onto the stage with Steve Irwin energy and yellow Crocs. A multi-Grammy winner, he treated the audience to one of his famous crowd choirs as he conducted us to make beautiful, harmonious choral notes. Given the crowd, he’d picked a very pitch-perfect bunch to perform with. A wonderful finale as he deconstructed classics such as West Side Story’s ” Somewhere ” into a mellifluous melody.
Winners also included the host venue, Southbank Centre itself, for their Multitudes Series (Series and Events Award). An inspiring pair of winners were Sheffield-based Orchestras for All (Impact Award) and Glyndebourne’s Uprising (Opera and Music Theatre Award). The former focuses on bringing children of all backgrounds into the world of classical music, and the latter created a special opera involving more than 100 children to portray an epic tale of climate change. The meaningful ways in which classical music can bring people together and demonstrate how we feel about the world is evident now more than ever. The Royal Philharmonic Society Awards are a truly poignant recognition of those talents.
You can read more about the 2026 Royal Philharmonic Society Awards at https://royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk/rps_today/news/2026-rps-awards-winners-announced