British violinist Tasmin Little is to adjudicate The Delius Society’s 2027 Delius Prize at the Royal Academy of Music on Sunday 7th February. Further details will be announced nearer the time on the Events page.
Tasmin Little is internationally renowned as one of the foremost champions of the music of Frederick Delius, having performed, recorded, and researched his work throughout her career. Her connection to Delius is also deeply personal, rooted in her early mentorship by Eric Fenby, the musician who famously served as Delius’s amanuensis during the composer’s final years.
Acclaimed Recordings
Tasmin Little has recorded almost all of Delius’s major works written for the violin across several highly acclaimed albums.
She has recorded Delius’s Violin Concerto twice; a celebrated early version with Sir Charles Mackerras and the Welsh National Opera Orchestra, and later a critically praised interpretation with Sir Andrew Davis and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. In the Double Concerto, she collaborated with cellist Paul Watkins and Sir Andrew Davis and, partnering with pianist Piers Lane, she recorded the complete cycle of Delius’s violin sonatas. She has also recorded Legende with the BBC Philharmonic.
Leadership and Advocacy
Beyond the recording studio, Tasmin Little has driven major public initiatives to bring Delius’s music to a wider audience.
In 2006, she acted as the artistic director for the Delius Inspired Festival; a high-profile, eight-day festival in Bradford (Delius’s birthplace) to celebrate his musical legacy, and for the BBC she wrote and presented a television documentary, ‘The Lost Child’, which explored Delius’s formative years spent managing an orange plantation in Florida. The film investigated how African-American music heavily influenced the composer’s unique compositional voice.
Further information on prize-winners from the 2026 Competition can be found on the Delius Prize page.
(Photo by Benjamin Ealovega)