Ivors honour Yazz Ahmed, Julian Joseph and Renell Shaw with Composer Awards

Several leading jazz musicians are among the 14 winners of The Ivors Composer Awards 2020, which celebrate “exceptional new works by composers writing for classical, jazz and sound art”. These Ivor Novello Awards were revealed as part of a two-hour ceremony on 1 December, broadcast exclusively on BBC Radio 3, hosted by Kate Molleson and Tom Service. 

All 11 category winners were commissioned by different venues or organisations, ranging from the Vortex Jazz Club to the BBC Proms, with six of the category winners aged 30 and under, underscoring the vibrancy and talent of the UK’s home grown composers. The Ivors Composer Awards were formerly known as the British Composer Awards, having rebranded in 2019, and are supported by PRS for Music.

Multi-instrumentalist Renell Shaw’s ‘The Vision They Had’ - which was written to mark National Windrush Day and part of his Windrush Suite livestreamed via The Vortex – picked up the award for ‘Jazz Composition for Small Ensemble’, while rising star trumpeter Yazz Ahmed was recognised for her adventurous approach to combining her British-Bahraini heritage and jazz with an Ivor Novello Award for Innovation.

The ‘Jazz Composition for Large Ensemble’ category went to Charlie Bates for ‘Crepuscule’, which had its UK premiere last year with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, and acclaimed UK pianist Julian Joseph OBE was bestowed the Ivors’ highest honour as he becomes an Academy Fellow for his outstanding contribution to UK jazz. He joins the starry list of Academy Fellows that also include Kate Bush CBE, Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. The live broadcast on BBC Radio 3 is available for the next 30 days to listen again here.

A full list of all the winners is available on the official Ivors Academy website www.ivorsacademy.com