Violinist Olwen Miles and the Astatine Trio receive grants to further their careers
The Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) has announced the recipients of the 2026 Instrumental Prizes, which aim to support early-career musicians.
The RPS Emily Anderson Violin Prize was awarded to Italian–British violinist Olwen Miles, who receives a grant of £1,500. Miles is currently pursuing a master’s degree at London’s Royal Academy of Music, where she has led the Royal Academy Symphony Orchestra. Since 2022 she has been a member of the Regency Quartet, which won the Royal Overseas League Competition in 2025 and is currently on the roster of the Kirckman Concert Society Artists. She also has performed as a soloist at Wigmore Hall.
‘I am extremely grateful to have been awarded the RPS Emily Anderson Violin Prize,’ said Miles. ‘Receiving this prize is both an honour and a source of great encouragement and will have a significant impact on my progress and future as a violinist.’
The RPS Henderson Chamber Ensemble Award was won by the London-based Astatine Trio, receiving a grant of £5,000. The piano trio comprises Slovenian violinist Maja Horvat, British cellist Riya Hamie, and British pianist Berniya Hamie, and was formed while its members were studying at the Royal College of Music. The ensemble was recently named as New Generation Artists by BBC Radio 3, as well as holding roles as resident ensemble at ProQuartet in Paris, as Hans Keller Chamber Fellows at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and as Britten Pears Young Artists for 2023–2024. The group is also currently a member ensemble of the European Chamber Academy.
The trio expressed its gratitude for the award:
‘We are so honoured to have been awarded the RPS Henderson Chamber Ensemble Award this year! The funds will enable us to invest in our studies and development as a group, something we feel is incredibly important, as well as bringing to life passion projects which we have wanted to explore for a while. These include a celebration of Beethoven’s bicentenary in 2027, concerts exploring the relationship between the trios of Wolfgang Rihm and Robert Schumann and, in the longer term, a chamber music festival in our hometown of Brighton. We’re so excited to start working on all these plans thanks to this generous help from the RPS and the Henderson family and couldn’t be more grateful for their support!’
The other grant awarded was the RPS Philip Jones Brass Prize of £2,500, which went to the London-based Fiveby5 trumpet quintet.
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