Young composers win RPS prize

Four young composers have won this year's Royal Philharmonic Society's (RPS) composition prize.

They have been awarded GBP3,000 each, including a commission for performance by a professional orchestra in 2011.

Steven Daverson, Edward Nesbit and Mark Simpson will join the Philharmonia Orchestra's Young Composers Academy and will have the guidance of composer and Music of Today artistic director Julian Anderson by attending his seminars.

Philharmonia musicians will mentor the men on how to write music for specific instruments and other aspects of composition.

Taking the fourth prize is Charlotte Bray, who was awarded with the Susan Bradshaw Composers' Fund commission.

She will write a chamber work for performance at the Cheltenham Festival.

The RPS prize was set up to support composers under the age of 29 and to give them an opportunity to write a work for a high profile professional performance.

It forms part of the society's commitment to create a future for music in the UK, while the Susan Bradshaw Composers' Fund was established for people beginning their careers in the music industry to perform works by living composers.