New Music Awards
Despite all the extra hurdles that fate has been placed in its path over the past 15 months, the musical life of Scotland has continued to thrive, finding new ways to bring the best in composition and performance to the public, however it can be reached, and this website has been fortunate to be part of that effort.
VoxCarnyx is now delighted to be associated with the Scottish Awards for New Music in their fifth year of recognising innovation and creativity, and today we can exclusively reveal the shortlisted projects for the 13 awards this year. We are specifically associated with one of them, sponsoring the Award for Recording of New Music, to be chosen from Linda Buckley’s From Ocean’s Floor, David Fennessy’s Letters, the Live Volume 1 set of recordings from Matthew Whiteside’s The Night With . . . sessions, and LivMassive and Hessian Renegade’s Erocean.
The shortlist was selected by an impressive list of 22 panellists from across the UK music scene, including musicians, festival directors, composers and funders, and the winners will be announced in an online ceremony streamed live on the New Music Scotland website from the RSNO Centre in Glasgow on Wednesday July 7, hosted by writer and broadcaster Tom Service. The event will include a performance by Katherine Wren, of Nordic Viola and the RSNO, of Eddie McGuire’s Legend, in tribute to the late Jimmy Durrant.
Co-chair of New Music Scotland, Andy Saunders said of the shortlist: “The variety and number of works and projects nominated this year was incredibly impressive, given the situation that the music world has faced over the last year. There were some stunningly creative ideas, and a consistently high level of artistic integrity within the nominations. To see that so much brilliant music making was going on is nothing short of inspirational.”
The full shortlist of nominees for the Scottish Awards for New Music 2021 is as follows:
Good Spirits Co Award for Innovation in New Traditional Music
– My Light Shines On: Aidan O’Rourke with Brìghde Chaimbeul, Bashir Saade, Rachel Sermani and Graeme Stephen/Edinburgh International Festival
– The Declaration: GRIT Orchestra
– Down the Line: Alastair Savage and Charli Ashton
Award for Large Scale New Work (11+ performers), sponsored by PRS for Music
– Above the Stars: Aileen Sweeney
– Pharmakeia: James Dillon
– This Departing Landscape: Martin Suckling
– Night Thoughts: Matthew Whiteside
– Vigil I: Ninfea Currwell-Reade
Mark McKergow Award for Innovation in New Jazz Music
– Corto Alto: Liam Shortall
– Deepening the River: Paul Towndrow
– Playtime
Award for Installation/Sound Art/Electroacoustic New Work
– Be Mine in Patience: an embrace in B Minor – Michael Begg
– Cheap Emotions: Darlene Zarabozo
– Stolen Voices: Rebecca Collins
– these bones, this flesh, this skin: Martin Suckling with Joan Clevillé and Genevieve Reeves
The ISM Award for New Music in Covid Times
– Distant Duets: Drake Music Scotland/Tinderbox Collective
– Be Mine in Patience: an embrace in B minor – Michael Begg
– Lochan Sketches: Nevis Ensemble
– Covid-19 Sound Map: Pete Stollery
Award for Environmental Sustainability
– Let Them Not Say: Chris Hutchings/Choirs for Climate
– Lochan Sketches: Nevis Ensemble
– Scottish Classical Sustainability Group: Nevis Ensemble/Scottish Ensemble/various
Award for the Recording of New Music, sponsored by VoxCarynx
– Erocean: LivMassive and Hessian Renegade
– The Night With… Live Vol. 1
– Letters: David Fennessy
– From Ocean’s Floor: Linda Buckley
The Dorico Award for Small/Medium Scale Work, sponsored by Steinberg
– Reflecting Instruments: David Horne
– High Energy Music: Nora Marazaite
– Archipelago: transmissions between islands – Lisa Robertson
– Plastica: Edwin Hillier
The Dorico Award for Solo Work, sponsored by Steinberg.
– Skydance: Ailie Robertson
– Her Lullaby: Martin Suckling
– Curious-er: Sonia Allori
– Omanjana: Simon Thacker
The SMIA Award for Creative Programming
– Sonic Bites: Cryptic
– Breathe and Draw: Nevis Ensemble/Alex Ho
– Sound Festival 2020: Sound Scotland
– 2020 programme: Scottish Ensemble
The RCS Award for Education/Community Project
– StAMP: Wallace Collection/St Andrew’s University
– Intersections: Exploration 2020
– Sonic Bothy
Award for New Music in Media
– The Trial of Alex Salmond: Francis Macdonald
– Sayo: Luci Holland
– Henry Glassie Field Work: Linda Buckley
The RCS Award for Making It Happen
– Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames: Ear to the Ground
– Ollie Hawker: The Owen Wilson Elegies
– Rufus Isabel Eliot: OVER / AT
The awards are created by New Music Scotland with support from the National Lottery through Creative Scotland’s Open Project Fund.
Announcement of the winners will be treamed online from the RSNO Centre via the NMS website on Wednesday July 7 at 8pm