LIVERPOOL Philharmonic is delighted to announce local composer Andrew Barney as the winner of the annual Rushworth Composition Prize.

The Rushworth Composition Prize is celebrating its 10-year anniversary. In association with the Rushworth Foundation, the prize has now provided 10 early-career composers with an exceptional range of opportunities to create new work and build long-term collaborative and creative relationships with Liverpool Philharmonic.

Andrew will receive a £1,000 cash prize and a year’s complimentary membership to the Ivors Academy, the UK’s leading professional association for music creators. The Prize offers Andrew a unique, year-long opportunity to develop his talent at Liverpool Philharmonic. He will participate in a programme of masterclasses, workshops, and mentoring sessions delivered by conductors, composers, performers, and other professionals associated with Liverpool Philharmonic.

Andrew will write a new work for performance by Ensemble 10:10, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s contemporary music group, in the autumn of 2026. He is also a member of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir and hopes to use this opportunity to compose works for the choir in the future.

Born and raised on Merseyside, Andrew has West African, Caribbean, and Irish heritage, which forms the foundation of his artistic identity. The only musician in his family, he discovered his love for classical music at 13 when he began learning piano and bass guitar at secondary school. In 2024, after a decade of working in various professional fields unrelated to music, he made a complete career change, fully embracing life as a musician and composer.

Andrew studied French and Spanish at the University of Leeds, where he graduated with distinctions. A polyglot, he speaks 10 languages. He spent a year in Canada at the Université de Montréal (UdeM) studying jazz and classical choir, and he lived in Granada, Spain for two years, teaching languages and singing with the Coro Ciudad de Granada.

Currently, Andrew is the pianist in residence with Liverpool’s newly formed Arts Bar Orchestra (ABO) under conductor Gaia Ghazaryan. He is also a proud member of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir under conductor Matthew Hamilton. Committed to cultural celebration and collaboration, Andrew recently composed and performed original works for piano and voice, which were showcased at St. George’s Hall to critical acclaim during Liverpool’s Black History Month. His career is marked by ongoing international collaborations and performances, including recent concerts in Switzerland with Venezuelan folk singer Mario Espinoza.

Looking ahead, Andrew’s musical journey continues to gather momentum. He has recently been selected as an artist in residence for the prestigious Leeds Opera North Resonance Programme in 2025, where he will develop his project "ORIGINS," which explores his heritage through music. He is also 1 of the mentees in the 2025 Ivors Academy’s Co:Pilot programme.

On winning the prize, Andrew said:- “This opportunity is life-changing and a dream come true for me. I always knew deep down that music was my true calling but felt too scared to fully embrace it. For the 1st time, I genuinely believe in my potential as a composer and musician. The chance to have my music performed by the incredible Ensemble 10:10 is absolutely priceless and is the start of an exciting new chapter in my life. As a member of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir, I’ve had the honour of performing alongside the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and now I will have the unique opportunity to develop a closer relationship with the musicians I’ve long admired. I’m also incredibly excited to work with Stephen Pratt, whose mentorship will be invaluable as I navigate my journey as a composer. I’m profoundly grateful for this opportunity and excited for what lies ahead.”

A Highly Commended prize was also awarded to Aaron Breeze, who will have 1 of his compositions performed by Ensemble 10:10 in the 2025-26 season.

Zoë Armfield, Head of Learning at Liverpool Philharmonic, commented:- “We are delighted to award the Prize to Andrew this year. The Rushworth Composition Prize is an integral part of Liverpool Philharmonic’s support for emerging talent in the North West. Now in its 10th year, it is incredible to see the way our composers’ careers have developed and the heights they have achieved. Classical music is an important living, breathing art form and it is so important to provide a platform for new music and champion new artists from our region. The standard of entries is always very high, and this year is no exception, so we were delighted to also award a commendation to Aaron.”

This week, Ensemble 10:10 performed the world premiere of Danu’s Rhapsody, a piece by last year’s Rushworth Composition Prize winner Sam Kane, conducted by Chief Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Domingo Hindoyan in his debut with Ensemble 10:10.

Previous winners of the Rushworth Composition Prize include Nneka Cummins, whose work 3 Planets premiered at the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall in May 2023 and Flow State premieres with Ensemble 10:10 in March; Christopher Cook has written the soundtrack to several full-length feature films and whose compositions have been performed by the BBC Philharmonic as well as the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; Grace-Evangeline Mason, who premiered her new orchestral work The Imagined Forest at the 2021 BBC Proms, co-commissioned with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and premieres a new piece with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in June; and Carmel Smickersgill, who was nominated for the Ivors Academy Rising Star Award in 2020, her piece Charcoal will be performed by Ensemble 10:10 in April and is working on her second EP to be released in 2025.