A lecturer at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland has been nominated for one of the UK’s most prestigious honours for composition.

Flautist Ruth Morley has been recognised in the Best Small-Scale Composition category at this year’s Ivors Composer Awards for her work, Reef.

Commissioned by Red Note Ensemble, Reef received its premiere at Aberdeen’s Sound Festival in 2025 before being broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s New Music Show.

Scored for flutes, voice, percussion and double bass, the work was performed by Ruth alongside soprano Laura Bowler and fellow RCS lecturers, percussionist Tom Hunter and double bassist Iain Crawford.

The Ivors celebrate excellence in contemporary composition across a range of disciplines, from concert music and live performance to film, television, video games and community engagement.

The awards ceremony, hosted by broadcaster Petroc Trelawny, will take place at Grosvenor House in London on Tuesday 17 November as part of Ivors Composer Week, a new initiative celebrating and supporting composers across the UK and Ireland.

“I’m amazed and delighted to be nominated for an Ivors Composer Award,” said Ruth.

“I’ve had so many lovely messages from people since the announcement. It is a huge honour.”

Reef was inspired by research into coral reef conservation, and the role sound plays in restoring damaged marine ecosystems.

Ruth explained: “I wrote Reef after hearing an interview with marine biologist Tim Lamont on Radio 4’s Today Programme. He talked about his work on coral reef conservation and regeneration, and the discovery that damaged reefs would recover more quickly when recordings of healthy reef systems were played in the water.

“I was fascinated by the fact that the sound of a reef is crucial to its longevity in attracting fish and coral larvae to the area, and that the sounds are a phenomenon in themselves.

“The multiple layers of the science, the amazing sounds, and the vital importance that reefs have in the overall biodiversity health of the oceans gave me quite a bit to think about in the writing process.”