A University of York composer has won one of the 2009 British Composer Awards at a ceremony hosted by British Academy of Songwriters, Composer and Authors (BASCA).

Dr Thomas Simaku, a senior lecturer in the department of music at the university, won the award for instrumental solo or duo with his composition Soliloquy V, Flauto Acerbo. The judging panel agreed Dr Simaku’s work redefined the instrument in “a visionary and entirely original way”. They praised it for its “virtuosity, depth of expression, and powerful imagination”.

Dr Simaku said: “I am thrilled to be presented with this award from BASCA which has gained such a wide resonance nationwide; it means a lot to me.”

Now in its seventh year, the Awards are presented by BASCA and sponsored by PRS for Music. and were broadcast on BBC Radio Three last night.

Albanian-born Dr Simaku studied composition at the Tirana Conservatoire and the University of York (1991-96) where he was awarded a PhD in composition.

Winner of the coveted Lionel Robbins Memorial Scholarship in 1993, he also was the 1996 Leonard Bernstein Fellow in Composition at Tanglewood Music Centre in the USA, and a fellow at the Composers’ Workshop, California State University. His music has been reaching audiences across Europe and the USA, and his recent CD on Naxos 21st Century Classics series, performed by one of the department’s ensembles in residence, Kreutzer Quartet, has won much critical acclaim. Congratulating Dr Simaku and the other winners, Ellis Rich, chairman of PRS for Music, said: “Yet again we’ve seen that this country has a wealth of contemporary classical music talent and it is right that this is celebrated.”

Across the awards categories, more than 300 submissions were received for works premiered between April 2008 and March this year.