hcmf// has won a coveted Royal Philharmonic Society Award for its 2009 festival.

Winners of the UK’s most prestigious accolade for live classical music were announced on Tuesday, May 11 at a dinner at London’s Dorchester Hotel.

hcmf// (www.hcmf.co.uk), which had topped the awards shortlist with no less than three nominations for its work, won in the Concert Series and Festivals category beating off strong competition from CBSO’s Stravinsky Festival and from two top London concert halls - the Southbank Centre and the Wigmore Hall.

The 2009 hcmf//, programmed by Graham McKenzie - the Festival’s Artistic Director for the last four years - was widely recognised as a vintage year.

The Award citation read:

"hcmf// 2009 featured a wide range of major international composers not often heard in the UK, and reasserted itself as an important international and national event in the world of contemporary music - one all aspiring composers should experience.

"The programme, which did not shy away from the difficult, drew on major international links and attracted large, young, enthusiastic audiences. It puts Huddersfield firmly on the cultural map and is a shining example of global ambition that justifies the support the festival receives locally and nationally."

Founded in 1978, hcmf// is one of Europe’s leading contemporary music festivals.  For ten days in November audiences, both local and international, flock to Huddersfield to hear the very latest developments in contemporary music and sound art.

The Festival was also shortlisted for two other awards: the RPS Music Award for Education, for its performance of Kristoffer Zeggars’ Piano Phasing featuring 50 local pianists, and, by association, in the Chamber Scale Composition category, for Pierre-Alexandre Tremblay’s piano work un clou, son marteau, et le béton for piano and electronics which Sarah Nicolls performed at her hcmf//  recital.

Winners of the 21st RPS Music Awards, which celebrated outstanding achievement in live classical music in 2009, were announced at an awards ceremony at London’s Dorchester Hotel, hosted by Sean Rafferty, presenter of BBC Radio 3’s In Tune and Sara Mohr-Pietsch, presenter of BBC Radio 3’s Breakfast.  Award-winners were presented with the traditional silver RPS lyre trophies by Sir John Tomlinson. A special programme devoted to the Awards is broadcast on Wednesday 12 May at 7pm on Performance on 3, BBC Radio 3.

The annual RPS Music Awards, presented in association with BBC Radio 3, are the UK’s most prestigious recognition of achievement in the field of live classical music.  Awards, in thirteen categories, are decided by independent panels consisting of some of the music industry’s most distinguished practitioners. The awards honour musicians, composers, writers, broadcasters and inspirational arts organisations. The list of previous winners reads like a Who’s Who of classical music. 

For a full list of RPS Awards winners, go to: http://www.rpsmusicawards.com

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