Peter Tranchell Foundation launches composition prize

The Peter Tranchell Foundation has launched the 2025 edition of its composition prize. This year’s prize invites composers to submit a duet for piano and organ, drawing inspiration from composer Peter Tranchell’s comic operetta Twice a Kiss.

Entry to the competition is open until 20 September, and the winning participant will receive a prize of £500 alongside a premiere performance of their winning piece in April 2026 at St. Paul’s Knightsbridge, London. The winner’s concert will also feature Tranchell's comic operetta Twice a Kiss, in which seven singers are accompanied by piano and organ. Performers confirmed for the winner’s concert include Michael Papadopoulos, Chris Purves, Tom Winpenny, David Doidge and Mary Bevan.

Chris Henshall, chair of Trustees of The Peter Tranchell Foundation, said: ‘We set up the Annual Prize in 2022 and are delighted that it has encouraged contemporary composers to learn about the life and work of Peter Tranchell and to use this so creatively as a stimulus for their own compositions. Tranchell’s music is eclectic, demanding, technically accomplished and often humorous, and it is wonderful to see the way in which current composers respond to his unique style and ideas with highly original and inspiring works. Each year, the Expert Judging Panel, chaired by David Hill, has a challenging task to select a winner (or winners) from a very strong field.’

Alongside David Hill, the judging panel will include Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Jonna Wikeley, last year's winner Will Harmer, and our performers for the concert Tom Winpenny (organ) and David Doidge (piano). The winner of the 2025 competition will also receive an invitation to be a member of the judging panel in next year's competition.

During his lifetime Tranchell loved the combination of piano and organ, and used it in one of his major sacred works, the Te Deum in E (1974). However as far as the foundation is aware, he never wrote a duet for piano and organ, and the competition is designed to give composers the opportunity to use their own voice to do this.