Best Classical Music / Jazz: African Sanctus
This award was opened up to jazz for the first time and both trumpeter Cuff Billett and the South-East Hampshire Youth Jazz Orchestra were among the finalists.
In any ordinary year, the Havant Symphony Orchestra might have won for giving an accomplished world premiere performance of a newly-discovered pre-war symphony by Hampshire composer and music teacher Maurice Blower.
So might Andrew Cleary for masterminding a memorable account of the Monteverdi Vespers at the Portsmouth Festivities.
But all were trumped by Portsmouth Choral Union's triumph in turning a musical occasion into a theatrical one as well under the direction of Jonathan Willcocks, blending Western music and Latin texts with African sounds, both live and recorded, in David Fanshawe's unique masterpiece, African Sanctus.
Judith Millman, who chairs Portsmouth Choral Union and took part in the performance, says it was a special occasion for the choir.
'Performing at the Kings Theatre added a sense of drama and emotion to the whole work,' she explains, 'and so did the very enthusiastic presence of the composer, David Fanshawe.'
Runner-up: South-East Hampshire Youth Jazz Orchestra, which has quickly established itself as a significant force, particularly this year with its Portsmouth Music Festival performances.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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