At a lavish event at London's Dorchester hotel, hosted by Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medallist, Dame Janet Baker and introduced by John Gilhooley, the RPS chairman, 13 awards were made for excellence in the field of classical music. 

Birmingham Opera Company's production of Stockhausen's six-hour opera Mittwoch aus Licht, staged in a former chemical plant, took the RPS Music Award for Opera and Music Theatre. In the Learning and Participation category Proper Job Theatre Company and the Scunthorpe Co-operative Junior Choir took the prize for their outdoor community opera, Cycle Song inspired by the local cycling legend Albert 'Lal' White. And the Concert Series and Festivals category went to 20x12, PRS for Music Foundation's 20 commissions awarded in association with Southbank Centre, BBC Radio 3 and NMC. 

Individual awards went to the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra's Kyrill Karabits (RPS Music Award for conductor), the mezzo Sarah Connolly (RPS Music Award for Singer) and pianist Steven Osborne (RPS Music Award for Instrumentalist).

Two organisations celebrating their 20th anniversary this year were honoured: the Britten Sinfonia in the Ensemble category (for the third time following wins in 2007 and 2009) and for Classic FM in the Creative Communication category - an award made for 'broadening the reach of classical music'.

The young Heath Quartet – given the nod by Gramophone for a London recital last year – took the award for Young Artists (the first ensemble to win since 1997) and Sheffield's Music in the Round was given the RPS Music Award for Chamber Music and Song.

The composer Gerald Barry took the RPS Music Award for Large-Scale Composition for his opera The Importance of Being Earnest, seen at the Royal Opera's Linbury Studio in June (and which featured the Britten Sinfonia) and Rebecca Saunders was given the Chamber-Scale Composition Award for her work Fletch, premiered by the Arditti Quartet at Wigmore Hall last November. Saunders won the Award once before, in 2007.

The Philharmonia took the RPS Award for Audiences and Engagement for their project 'Universe of Sound' which allowed audiences at the Science Museum to travel into the heart of Gustav Holst's The Planets. 'Universe of Sound' can be seen in Birmingham, at the Municipal Bank, between May 25 and June 16.

Introducing the Awards, John Gilhooley commented that 'making money never has, and never should be, the driving force for great art. The Philharmonic Society sent Beethoven £100 on his deathbed to ease his penury, and commissioned Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, not because they expected or even hoped for a blockbuster success, but because they, quite simply, wanted to hear more of his music. So, whilst mindful of the absolute need to unite with the government and funders in framing the positive economic arguments for expenditure on the arts, let’s not allow creativity, vision, excellence, enjoyment and culture’s potential to change lives to be lost in the debate, even in times of austerity.'

BBC Radio 3 will be celebrating the RPS Awards on Sunday afternoon (May 19) from 2pm in a programme introduced by Andrew McGregor.