Musical talent in Scotland is in the running for the most prestigious awards in classical music, the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards.

The annual RPS awards this year feature several music makers in Scotland, including Donald Runnicles, chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Minimal, Glasgow's music festival which highlighted minimalist music, the National Youth Choir of Scotland and composer Sally Beamish.

Turner Prize-winning Glasgow artist Douglas Gordon is also, unusually, in the running for an RPS award – the first visual artist to be nominated.

Gordon is nominated for his film installation "K364" at London's Gagosian Gallery, which follows Israeli musicians of Polish descent, Avri Levitan and Roi Shiloah, on a train from Berlin to Poland, culminating in a performance of Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante in E flat major.

Beamish has been shortlisted in the chamber composition category for her Reed Stanzas (String Quartet No 3), which was written on Harris.

Claudio Abbado, Thomas Adès, and Harrison Birtwistle are also among the major names in the frame.

John Gilhooly, chairman of the Royal Philharmonic Society, said: "The RPS Music Awards allow the classical music world to tell everyone about what we do best. In the current climate, when the role of culture is being questioned, it's all the more important that we don't take our rich musical life for granted."

The winners will be announced at London's Dorchester Hotel on May 8.