The Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards were presented this evening at the Dorchester Hotel. It was a good night for Italian giants. Claudio Abbado and Maurizio Pollini were among the winners on a night, in which Mitsuko Uchida was awarded the RPS Gold Medal.

It was also a fruitful evening for contemporary classical: composers Jonathan Harvey and Sally Beamish were both among the winners, as was cellist Oliver Coates and chamber ensemble Apartment House. The widest grin was on the face of East London’s Spitalfields Music, which was twice summoned to the podium for its inclusive work in both community opera and innovative ticketing. It won the Audiences and Engagement award for asking ticket buyers to their two annual festivals to “gift” a second ticket to someone coming to the venue for the first time.

Uchida won her medal with the following accolade: “Mitsuko Uchida has been enthralling audiences for decades with the sensitivity, insight, and unshowy brilliance of her playing. She is beloved by audiences the world over and held in special affection in Britain, where she now lives. But she is not an artist who craves the limelight, devoting much of her time to rehearsal and study. Her luminous and penetratingly intelligent playing of the classical composers, especially the Viennese trio of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, has justly gained her worldwide respect and acknowledgement as one of the great pianists of our time. Through the Borletti-Buitoni Trust she is also a tireless mentor to young artists. We salute Mitsuko Uchida therefore as both a peerless musician and a great humanist.”

Full list of winners

• Audiences and Engagement: Spitalfields Music - Buy One, Donate One
• Chamber Music and Song: Apartment House
• Chamber - Scale composition: Sally Beamish - Reed Stanzas
• Concert Series and Festivals: Aldeburgh Festival 2011
• Conductor: Claudio Abbado
• Creative Communication: BBC Radio 3 - Hear and Now 50
• Ensemble: National Youth Choir of Scotland
• Instrumentalist: Maurizio Pollini
• Large-Scale Composition: Jonathan Harvey - Messages
• Learning and Participation: Spitalfields Music - We Are Shadows
• Opera and Music Theatre: Eugene Onegin (ENO)
• Singer: Toby Spence
• Young Artist: Oliver Coates