Mackerras, former music director of the English National Opera, among other companies, also won the BBC Radio 3 Listeners Award. Manchester's Hall_ Orchestra was named top ensemble. Pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard won the instrumentalist award.
The Royal Opera House won the prizes for best conductor, for music director Antonio Pappano; best singer, for Ben Hepper's performance as Peter Grimes; and best large-scale composition, for Thomas Ads' The Tempest. Despite having gotten two of the three nominations in the opera-production category, the ROH lost out to Leeds' Opera North, which won for the Eight Little Greats festival.
Edward Gardner, music director of Glyndebourne Touring Opera, won the young-artist award. Howard Skempton won the prize for chamber composition for his Skendrils; the South Bank Centre's Omaggio—A Celebration of Luciano Berio won for best concert series or festival.
The Birmingham Contemporary Music Group won the audience-development award for its Shropshire Tours; Hackney Music Development Trust received the education prize for its On London Fields series.
