Today we are celebrating winning the 2025 Royal Philharmonic Society Award in the Impact category for Re:Discover Festival. The citation is “for an outstanding initiative, individual or organisation that practically engaged and set out to have a lasting impact on the lives of people who may not otherwise experience classical music, demonstrating the positive, empowering role it can play in society”.
The award was received last night at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire by Soprano and Re:Discover Festival director Abigail Kelly, Streetwise Opera performer Martyn Nisbet from Nottingham and Streetwise Opera CEO Rachael Williams.
Martin Constantine, Artistic Director of Streetwise Opera, said:
Winning this RPS Award is a powerful recognition of the talent and creativity of Streetwise Opera performers. It reinforces the visibility of people with lived experience of homelessness as artists with extraordinary stories to share — stories that challenge, inspire and enrich the world. This award is a celebration of their artistry and the beauty they bring to the stage.
Re:Discover was a celebration of African and Caribbean heritage through the voices of people with lived experience of homelessness, exploring the works of Black classical and opera composers over 300 the last years. The festival was held in May 2024 at St John’s Waterloo in London, in June at The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester and in July at the Nottingham Playhouse.
The Impact category award was supported by Oxford University Press Music and we were honoured to share the shortlist with the amazing Singing Medicine project by Ex Cathedra and the World Heart Beat Music Academy.
We would like to thank everyone who made Re:Discover Festival possible, especially the brilliant Streetwise Opera performers who join our weekly sessions in London, Manchester and Nottingham; the courageous people experiencing homelessness who took part in our workshops at frontline homelessness support centres; and our generous funders Arts Council England and The National Lottery Heritage Fund as well as all the individuals, trusts, foundations and other organisations who support our work.
We are especially grateful to our creative and artistic team, including festival director Abigail Kelly, librettist and actor Paterson Joseph, composers Pete Letanka, Lavender Rodriguez, David Austin Grey and Jonathan Brigg, directors TD Moyo, Amy Hailwood and Beth Kapila, musical directors Aga Serugo-Lugo, Jonathan Ainscough and Tim Lole, pianists Belinda Jones, Tom Henderson and Jane Robinson, set and costume designer Debbie Duru, sound designer Sam Greening, costume supervisor Louise Smith, dramaturgs Laura Asare, Princess Arinola Adegbite and Carol Leeming, curators Mia Lewis, Michaela Ross and José Sunshine-Okoro, soprano Grace Nyandoro, baritone Rodney Earl Clarke, mezzo soprano Camille Maalawy, tenor Michael Vincent Jones, mezzo soprano Victoria Grey, baritone Carlos Felipe Cerchiaro, as well as all the brilliant guest artists who took part in over 40 events throughout the festival.
We are also grateful to our partners St John’s Waterloo, The Bridgewater Hall, Nottingham Playhouse, Royal College of Music Museum, Hackney Museum, Black Cultural Archives, Royal Academy of Arts, Southbank Centre, The Renewal Programme, The Source, Science and Industry Museum, Royal Northern College of Music Library, Whitworth Gallery, Brighter Sounds, Cornerstone Centre, Mustard Tree, New Art Exchange, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottinghamshire Archives, Primary, Canaan Trust and Framework Housing Association.
Streetwise Opera won the RPS Award in 2009, in the Audiences and Engagement category, for My Secret Heart, and was nominated in the Impact category in 2019 for Tell Me The Truth About Love and 2024 for Re:Sound.
Photos: Greg Milner / RPS
