BASCA reveals British Composer Award nominees

A new generation of British composers are dominating the nominations for the 2010 British Composer Awards.
In total, 12 of the 33 composers up for an accolade are considered to be at the start of their professional careers, with many under 33-years-old. Furthermore, the eighth annual outing of the ceremony sees an increasing number of female composers gaining recognition for their work, with 11 different women nominated.
Ellis Rich, chairman of PRS for Music, believes the presence of new composers on the list is testament to the talent in the UK at the moment.
“It’s exciting to see new generations of composers in these awards and the breadth of the talent nominated shows the importance of new composers in the UK,” he confirmed.
The shortlist also features two Music Sales composers. In the choral category, Tarik O’Regan is nominated for The Night’s Untruth and Brian Elias has been given the nod in the Orchestral section for Doubles.
Meanwhile, BASCA and British Composer Awards chair Sarah Rodgers said that the line-up was “possibly the most dynamic and inspirational” ever.
She added: “The awards continue to play a crucial role in identifying new voices and emerging talent and truly reflect a community of creative artists where women composers feature ever more strongly.”
Winners will be announced at a ceremony to be held on November 30th at Stationers’ Hall in London and broadcast the following day on Radio 3 from 7pm. The successful composers in the Vocal and Making Music categories will be commissioned to produce a piece by BBC Radio 3 the Music Publishers Association respectively.
BASCA also announced that Mark David Boden has been named as the winner of the student competition for his work, Siegfried Stanzas. The piece will be performed live at the event and repeated on the Radio 3 programme.