Sir Harrison Birtwistle is no stranger to prizes. But being given the Instrumental solo gong at the British Composer Awards is a first even for him--it places him as the most honored composer in the history of those awards. He won the award for Gigue Machine, for solo piano, which now means that he has the most prizes and nominations ever allotted to one person by the BCA. He has previously won for Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in 2012 and Crowd in 2007, among his now-five BCA accolades.
Altogether, 13 awards were given this year, of which nine were first-time winners and six had never even been nominated before. The full list of winners is:
Wind Band or Brass Band -- Nigel Clarke's Cornet Concerto
Liturgical -- Matthew Martin's I Saw the Lord
Sonic Art -- Ed Baxter's and Chris Weaver's No Such Object
Making Music Award -- Peter McGarr's Dry Stone Walls of Yorkshire
International -- Toshio Hosokawa's Woven Dreams
Instrumental (solo or duo) -- Harrison Birtwistle's Gigue Machine
Orchestral -- Joseph Phibbs's Rivers to the Sea
Stage Works -- George Benjamin's Written on Skin
Contemporary Jazz -- John Surman's Lifelines
Community or Educational Project James -- Redwood's Pass The Torch, An Olympic Symphony
Chamber -- Colin Matthews's String Quartet No. 4
Choral -- James MacMillan's Since it was the day of Preparation
Vocal -- Brian Elias's Electra Mourns
