Royal Philharmonic Society (TDN 2024)
The Royal Philharmonic Society has a remarkable history of doing good things for music for over 200 years. We established the model of concert series that continues today, commission exciting new composers from each generation and constantly champion the role music and musicians play in our lives. Our small team is bringing fresh strategic energies to helping musicians at critical points in their lives, providing grants, mentoring, and high-quality step-change development initiatives, to ensure their talent can thrive in a tough profession.
The RPS’s commitment to supporting composers is part of a tradition that dates back to Beethoven and Mendelssohn, whose ‘Italian’ Symphony was commissioned by the RPS when Mendelssohn was in his early twenties. We know what it takes to become a successful composer whose music reaches out of the concert hall, across the airwaves, and into the hearts of audiences. Described by Laurence Osborn, a participant in 2017, as ‘like gold-dust’, RPS Composers is a year-long programme that develops composers’ professional outlook alongside their creative practice. We collaborate with performance partners nationwide who share our passion for contemporary music and draw on our unrivalled contacts in classical music to share their insight into all parts of the profession. Composers we have supported have consequently been signed to leading publishers and artist agencies and colleagues across the music profession regularly draw on our expertise and recommendations of composers to follow. Our vision is for RPS Composers to set the benchmark for composer development programmes in the UK, giving composers the best springboard for rewarding and sustainable careers.