The winners of the 2009 British Composer Awards have been announced in a ceremony hosted by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composer and Authors at the Law Society, London.

Now in its seventh year, the Awards are presented by BASCA and sponsored by PRS for Music. In association with BBC Radio 3, the awards will be broadcast in Performance on 3 on Wednesday 2nd December at 7pm.

Key note

The key-note comments at the ceremony were given by Sir Nicholas Kenyon, CBE who also presented the winners with their Awards.

This year’s event gave special focus to the new Award for Contemporary Jazz Composition which was won by composer and saxophonist, Jason Yarde for his BBC Prom commission, Rhythm and Other Fascinations.

Wealth

Ellis Rich, Chairman of PRS for Music, sponsors of the Awards, commented: "Yet again we’ve seen that this country has a wealth of contemporary classical music talent and it is right that this is celebrated."

Across the Awards categories, more than 300 submissions were received for works premiered between 1 April 2008 and 31 March 2009.

Yet again we’ve seen that this country has a wealth of contemporary classical music talent and it is right that this is celebratedEllis Rich, Chairman, PRS

Winners

The winners list features some of the UK’s most established and recognised contemporary composers alongside emerging new talent.

John Tavener’s sequence of carols, 'Ex Maria Virgine' won in the Liturgical Category; 'Since Brass, Nor Stone' by Alexander Goehr captured the Chamber Music Award; and the International Award was
won by American icon, John Adams for his equally iconic opera, 'Doctor Atomic'.

Newcomers, Mira Calix and Elizabeth Winters took the awards in the Community and Educational and Making Music categories for their works, 'My Secret Heart' and 'The Serious Side of Madness'.

Wind & Brass Award

Works by previous Award winners, Simon Holt and Gabriel Jackson picked up the 2009 Awards for Orchestral music and for Chamber music, while Adam Gorb took his third Award in seven years in the category for Wind Band or Brass Band with, 'Farewell', composed for the National Youth Wind Orchestras of Wales.

Thrilled

Sarah Rodgers, Chairman of BASCA and Chair of the British Composer Awards, commented: "I am always thrilled to see so many of our composing community brought together on this Awards evening. While we celebrate exceptional musical works, we are sending out a message about the importance of sustaining creativity and re-vitalising the cultural milieu."