Glyndebourne's production of Jonathan Dove and librettist April de Angelis' community opera Uprising took home the Royal Philharmonic Society award for Opera and Music Theatre at the 2026 awards ceremony last week.
Celebrating the best of classical music in the UK, the RPS awards highlight the outstanding voices in the sector and paint a vital portrait of classical music’s resonance, impact and reach. Having protected and promoted classical music and musicians for over 200 years, the awards represent the pinnacle of recognition.
Co-commissioned by Glyndebourne and Saffron Hall, Uprising is a community-focussed opera which looks at the climate emergency through the eyes of those whom it will affect the most – the young. The project was initiated by an extraordinary philanthropist Jim Potter, who had a deep commitment to sustainability and a passion for music. With his wife Hilary, Jim commissioned the opera knowing that he was unlikely to live to see the premiere. As Dove writes -‘It was actually as a direct reaction to being given a terminal diagnosis, that he asked me to write an opera about climate change and sustainability — the future for life in the Anthropocene era.’
This full-length opera involves a cast of professional singers, youth opera chorus, an adult community chorus, professional orchestra alongside young instrumentalists and a youth percussion ensemble on stage.
Congratulations to all the other outstanding winners and nominees at the 2026 awards. You can explore the full list of winners here.
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