Musicians Benevolent Fund

Sybil Tutton Awards

The Sybil Tutton Awards, for students on advanced postgraduate opera courses, has been launched.

Awards are offered to outstandingly talented singers who will be on full-time postgraduate opera courses in 2010/11 to help with study costs (fees and maintenance).

A special Richard Van Allan Award may be offered to a suitably outstanding male singer. Individual awards will range from £1,000 to £5,000 and the total amount available for distribution in 2010 is £35,000.

The closing date for application is Friday 23 April 2010. Please read the guidelines thoroughly before submitting an application. The application form can be completed electronically with Adobe Reader version 8 or higher and emailed to awards@mbf.org.uk

Sybil Tutton had a lifelong love of opera which in later years was expressed as a passionate interest in the training of young singers. Her working life was spent at Mallet's, the antique dealers in Bond Street where her father was a director and major shareholder. On his death Sybil inherited his holding, becoming the largest single shareholder.

In 1988 she used her personal funds to set up the Sybil Tutton Charitable Trust, which was to provide financial help for the postgraduate training of outstanding young singers who, it was believed, would achieve the standards of excellence she expected in a performance. She took a personal interest in the Trust and held an annual lunch to meet some of the young singers she had supported. Sybil never married and died peacefully on 27 November 2002, aged 96, bequeathing most of her residuary estate to the Trust.

Singers on Musical Theatre Courses: Ian Fleming Musical Theatre Awards

Awards of up to £5,000 are made to outstanding musical theatre performers to help with full-time postgraduate or the final year of undergraduate musical theatre study costs (fees or maintenance). Applicants need to be British or Irish or have lived in the UK for at least three years at the closing date.

Applications for funding for the 2010/11 academic year will be accepted in the spring. The next closing date for applications will be in May 2010.

For further information please email awards@mbf.org.uk
T: 020 7239 9119.

Click below to see the list of award recipients in 2009

Musicians Benevolent Fund Young Talent Awards 2010

The Musicians Benevolent Fund Young Talent Awards are an important source of funding for young musicians and are made to those with a high level of musical achievement who are in financial need.

In 2009, the Fund distributed over £100,000 through this scheme to more than 180 musically gifted young people with awards ranging from £200 to £1,000.

Awards are offered to those who will be under 18 years of age on 1 September in the year of application towards one of the following i) the cost of buying an instrument ii) music lessons with a private teacher iii) fees for a Saturday music centre iv) travel expenses to attend a Saturday music centre.

Awards are also offered to those who are aged 18 and about to enter their first year at university or college. Applications from 18 year olds can only be made for instrument purchase. Applicants should be British or Irish or have been resident in the UK or Ireland for at least 3 years on the closing date.

The closing date for applications is Friday 11 June 2010

Please note that in order to complete the application form electronically you will need version 8 or higher of Adobe Reader. If you do not have this you can download the latest version free from the Adobe website or print the form and complete it by hand.

Musicians Benevolent Fund Postgraduate Performance Awards

The Musicians Benevolent Fund has launched the Postgraduate Performance Awards, its flagship funding scheme formerly known as the Music Education Awards. Awards are offered to outstandingly talented instrumentalists (including accompanists and repetiteurs) and singers to help with full-time postgraduate study costs or towards the costs of buying a musical instrument.

Individual awards range from £1,000 to £5,000 and include a number of named awards and scholarships, including:

• Postgraduate Performance Awards for all disciplines
• Ian Fleming Charitable Trust Music Education Awards for all disciplines
• Charles Leggett Awards for brass and woodwind
• Eleanor Warren Award for cello
• Emily English Scholarship and Manoug Parikian Award for violin
• Maidment Scholarships for voice
• Myra Hess Scholarships for piano
• Sir Henry Richardson Scholarships for accompanists and repetiteurs

If you are considering applying, please note that this is not a general source of postgraduate funding. Only those who can demonstrate significant musical achievement and talent, supported by evidence of major prizes, high-profile performances and exemplary references will be invited to audition.

The closing date for applications has now passed. The next deadline will be February 2011.

Please note, those planning to study on an opera course in 2010/11 either at a conservatoire or opera studio should apply to the Sybil Tutton Awards (below), which will be launched separately at a later date.

Maggie Teyte Prize and Miriam Licette Scholarships

The Maggie Teyte Prize and Miriam Licette Scholarships place particular emphasis on the interpretation of French mélodie. These awards are open to female singers in full-time postgraduate vocal study or in the first year of entering a professional career. Applicants must be able to demonstrate considerable success at this level.

The closing date for the Maggie Teyte Prize 2010 has now passed. Auditions will be held on 11 February 2010 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Applications for the Maggie Teyte Prize 2011 will open in the autumn of 2010.

For more information please email awards@mbf.org.uk.
T: 020 7239 9119.

The Peter Hulsen Orchestral Song Award

The Peter Hulsen Orchestral Song Award is an exciting initiative launched by Southbank Sinfonia (SbS) in collaboration with the Fund. It is a biennial award to provide an outstanding young singer the chance to perform orchestral song with Southbank Sinfonia.

The opportunity to audition and submit a programme for the award is by invitation only and limited to singers who have received a major named award from the Musicians Benevolent Fund. The selected singer is able to work with a mentor on their chosen repertoire and to rehearse and make a concert recording of their programme with Southbank Sinfonia. The highlight of the experience is a concert performance with the orchestra conducted by Simon Over.

Peter Hulsen, a native of Breslau, came to England as a boy on a Kindertransport train out of Germany. His lifelong love of music makes him one of the most discerning and knowledgeable of concertgoers, with a particular interest in opera, in lieder and in singing in general. Peter‘s first encounter with SbS came when he attended the orchestra’s very first concert conducted by Simon Over in 2001. That evening‘s programme featured two of Strauss’s Four Last Songs, the soprano soloist was the young Sally Matthews and the orchestra was of young professional players. A conversation followed which led Peter to endorse and involve himself with the aims of SbS to such an extent that he has generously supported the orchestra every year since its beginnings, has given it a fine Steinway piano and has bequeathed his estate to Southbank Sinfonia.

The Peter Hulsen Orchestral Song Award recognises this extraordinary generosity by acknowledging his passion for those songs in the repertoire which are rarely heard with orchestral accompaniment. It is a particular pleasure that Sally Matthews (left) has agreed to become Patron of the Peter Hulsen Orchestral Song Award, since it was her performance with SbS which led to this valuable new opportunity for young singers.

The winner of the first Peter Hulsen Orchestral Song Award in 2008 was Gerard Collett. His award recital was given with the Southbank Sinfonia at Cadogan Hall on Wednesday 29 April 2009.

For further information please email awards@mbf.org.uk
T: 020 7239 9119.

To find the right award for you check out the Funding Wizard