WWM composer Bernard Hughes has been shortlisted for a British Composer Award for his choral work The Death of Balder. The shortlisted works were announced on BBC Radio 3's early evening magazine programme In Tune on October 20th. All the shortlisted works are scheduled for broadcast on BBC Radio 3 as part of the series Performance on 3, before the winners are announced at the award ceremony on 1st December.
The Death of Balder began life as a five-minute fragment of a larger projected work written for a SPNM workshop with the BBC Singers and their producer Michael Emery, under the leadership of composer Judith Bingham (who is also shortlisted in the same category). The BBC Singers were so enthused that they commissioned Hughes to complete the work, which they have since performed in concert at the City of London Festival 2009. They have also made a studio recording of the work, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in April 2008, and have since commissioned another large-scale work from him (for more information, click here).
You can see the full shortlist together with more information about the awards at the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors website.