abcd honoured the contribution of Peter Broadbent to both choral music in the UK and the work of abcd at Convention at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow. Presenting him with the Chair's Award for 2017, Leslie East said:
"Each year abcd honours a conductor who has made an outstanding contribution to choral music and this year's Chair's Award was made to Peter Broadbent. Peter has run a choir of international repute since 1988. Winners of the Sainsbury Choir of the Year Competition, the Joyful Company of Singers has gone on to become one of the most successful British choirs, winning many international competitions and receiving invitations to perform and broadcast in many parts of the world. Peter served as the abcd's first Director of Training until the end of 2016 and remains one of the organisation's most respected ambassadors."
Receiving the award, Peter Broadbent responded:
"I am honoured and delighted with this award. It has been a pleasure to work with such outstanding colleagues in developing abcd's training programme which continues to provide support to so many active conductors. I would like to pay tribute to all the outstanding Chairs of the Association who have actively encouraged the development of this work since its inception almost 20 years ago, and to all of my colleagues who have worked with such enthusiasm to maintain the consistency and level of the various courses."
Convention also saw the award of the second Oxford University Press Andrew Potter Bursary. The bursary was set up in memory of founder member and former Chair Andrew Potter, who was Head of the Music Department at OUP from 1983 to 2004, as well as Chair of the Performing Rights Society, and Making Music. It offers support to an emerging young conductor to attend Convention and benefit from a variety of training opportunities surrounding it.
This year's recipient was Cole Bendall, who said, upon receiving the reward:
"Being awarded the Andrew Potter Bursary was a tremendous privilege and allowed me to take advantage of more of abcd's excellent training programme at the Convention, including masterclasses with Edward Caswell, Keith Orrell, Susan Dingle and Amy Bebbington. The lessons I learned from this coaching and the networking opportunities with so many talented musicians were inspiring and have already influenced the way I approach coaching my choirs. I look forward to using this bursary as a stepping stone to working with abcd again in the future as I pursue my career as a choral director."
Posted: Fri 22nd September 2017