Ivors Shortlist Maps a Wide Field of Contemporary Composition

The 2026 Ivors Composer Awards have named 36 composers and librettists across nine competitive categories. Winners are due to be announced in London on 17 November. The shortlist stretches from concert music to film, television, games, theatre and work made with communities, presenting composition as a profession that crosses several kinds of stage and screen.

Hania Rani, Patrick Jonsson and Siôn Trefor each received two nominations and are first-time nominees. Rani appears in both large-scale and small-scale fields, for her piano concerto Non Fiction and ensemble work Shining. Her pair of entries illustrates why a category system can be useful: it lets listeners compare different artistic problems without assuming that a bigger ensemble creates a more important piece.

Four special honours will accompany the judged awards. Max Richter has already been named for the Ivor Novello Award for Innovation. That recognition is separate from the competitive prizes, whose recipients are still unknown. Keeping the two forms of honour distinct matters when discussing the announcement; a nomination is not yet a win.

The range of eligible work reflects composers’ varied working lives. A score for moving images must negotiate pace and narrative. Music for games may respond to player action. A community project can place collaboration at the centre, while a concert work may ask listeners to follow a structure without visual cues. Each demands craft, but not the same craft.

Awards can draw attention to music that might otherwise remain inside one sector. The more interesting question after the ceremony is whether unfamiliar pieces will gain further performances, broadcasts or listeners. The shortlist is therefore a map of current activity as much as a prediction of trophies to be handed out in November.