The Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards were announced last night, with winners including pianist Leon Fleisher, composer James Dillon and conductor Iván Fischer.

Fleisher was honoured in the Instrumentalist category, for his performances at the 2010 Aldeburgh Festival. The 82-year-old American pianist only relatively recently regained the use of his right hand after four decades – something he marked in 2004 with a well-received release of a disc called “Two Hands”. Iván Fischer, whose recordings with his Budapest Festival Orchestra have frequently been critically-acclaimed in Gramophone's pages, earned the Conductor Award for his Beethoven performances with another ensemble, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

James Dillon received the Large-scale Composition Award for Nine Rivers, while Brian Ferneyhough received the Chamber-scale Composition prize for his String Quartet No 6. The Southbank Centre claimed the Concert Series and Festivals prize for its Helmut Lachenmann weekend. George Benjamin was named an Honorary Member of the RPS for the “virtuosity, integrity, care and consideration he brings to everything he does, whether as a pianist, teacher, spellbinding speaker, programmer or internationally acclaimed conductor”.

Each Award was chosen by a different jury of five members, comprising critics, writers and prominent figures in the classical music world.

For a full list of winners, visit the RPS Awards website.