South Bank Sky Arts Awards 2011 nominees announced

Anish Kapoor to design award; Lord Andrew and Julian Lloyd-Webber to reprise iconic theme tune as the awards come to Sky Arts
TX: 25th January, Sky Arts 1 HD, 9pm

The fifteenth South Bank Sky Arts Awards will return in 2011 with a shortlist boasting an all female category, all new plays and a brand new Alan Partridge – as well as an Anish Kapoor designed award and a reworking of the iconic theme tune by the original composer and performer: Lord Andrew and Julian Lloyd-Webber.

The awards are one of the world’s most coveted arts awards, celebrating the best of British culture and achievement across visual art, theatre, opera, dance, comedy, classical music, pop, TV drama, literature and film. 2011 will see them arrive on Sky for the first time, hosted once again by Melvyn Bragg.

To celebrate their relaunch as The South Bank Sky Arts Awards, Lord Andrew and Julian Lloyd Webber have reworked the famous Paganini 24th Caprice theme tune from The South Bank Show series. The Turner Prize winning sculptor Anish Kapoor has designed and will sign each of the winners statues, ensuring that the 12 winners on the night take home a true collector’s item.

The Times Breakthrough Award will return for 2011, shining a light on the up and coming talent to look out for.

Following the announcement made earlier this year of the demise of the South Bank Show series it was feared that 2010’s awards would be the last. Melvyn Bragg will return as editor and master of ceremonies for the awards and will front a series of profile documentaries around the winners, to air on Sky Arts in the weeks following the ceremony.
The ceremony, to be attended by the best talent from across the arts, will be held at The Dorchester on 25 January 2011.

“The shortlist demonstrates the extraordinary wealth of achievement across the arts in the UK,” comments Melvyn Bragg. “It is fantastic to see the arts flourishing – and there has certainly never been a more important moment to celebrate the breadth and range of talent across the country. We are delighted that we can continue to honour the dedication of these artists.”

SOUTH BANK SKY ARTS AWARDS 2011: FULL NOMINEE LIST

Classical Music

• As with Voices and with Tears, performed at Portsmouth Cathedral, by Portsmouth Grammar School chamber choir ; London Mozart Players and Andrew Cleary, composed by Tansy Davies
• BBC Philharmonic and Halle Manchester, Joint Mahler season from January – June 2010
• Liverpool Philharmonic, Mahler’s 1st, 2nd and 3rd

Comedy

• Alan Partridge at www.fostersfunny.co.uk
• Getting On, BBC 4
• Rev, BBC 2

Dance

• Akram Khan's Gnosis, Sadler's Wells
• Asphodel Meadows, Royal Ballet, Liam Scarlett
• Hofesch Shechter's Political Mother, Sadlers Wells

Film

• Another Year
• Monsters
• The Arbor

Literature

• Edmund De Waal, The Hare With The Amber Eyes


• Candia McWilliam, What to Look for in Winter: A Memoir in Blindness


• Barbara Trapido, Sex & Stravinsky

Opera
 • A Dog's Heart, ENO
• Billy Budd, Glyndebourne
• Die Meistersingers, Welsh National Opera

Pop Music

• Plan B, The Defamation of Strickland Banks
• The Foals, Total Life Forever
• Tinie Tempah, Disc-Overy

Theatre

• Clybourne Park, The Royal Court
• Earthquakes in London, National Theatre
• Ruined, Almeida Theatre

TV Drama

• Misfits, Series 2, E4
• Sherlock, BBC 1
• This is England ’86, Channel 4

Visual Art

• Angela De La Cruz - Lisson Gallery
• Josephine King, Life So Far at Riflemaker
• Tacita Dean, Frith Street Gallery

THE TIMES BREAKTHROUGH AWARD: NOMINEES

• Comedy: Greg Davies
• Classical music: Nicholas Collon
• Dance: Brian Maloney
• Film: Clio Barnard
• Literature: Neel Mukherjee A Life Apart
• Opera: Pumeza Matshikiza
• Pop Music: Everything Everything
• Theatre: Andrew Scott
• TV Drama: Michelle Dockery
• Visual Art: Simon Fujiwara

The Dorchester Outstanding Achievement Award: To be announced on the day

"Without arts there is no joy; without arts programmes, there's only reality television."
Billy Connolly, South Bank Awards 2010

For further information on the nominees: www.sky.com/southbank