Art Music Awards Winners For 2024 Announced
Congratulations to all the winners and nominees in the 2024 APRA AMCOS Art Music Awards, revealed at a ceremony at Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne/ Naarm on 14 August.
Celebrating outstanding artists and works in Australian art music and sound art, the awards celebrate some of the finest established and emerging artists in contemporary classical music, jazz, improvisation, electronic and sound art, and experimental practice.
The Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music was presented to Lyn Williams AM recognising her pioneering and long-standing dedication to the development of Australian choral music through the Gondwana Choirs, and the musical voices she has amplified throughout her career.
Luminary Awards went to Omega Ensemble for championing emerging and diverse voices and commissioning of new Australian works. Luminary Awards were also presented to individuals and organisations who made significant contributions to the music community in their local state or territory namely, Jessica Cottis (ACT), Jessica Wells (NSW), Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra (QLD), The Bowerbird Collective (SA), Don Kay (TAS), Duré Dara OAM (VIC), and Gemma Farrell (WA).
Mary Finsterer won two awards, Work of the Year: Choral and Performance of the Year: Notated Composition for her epic symphony Stabat Mater, performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Choir of Trinity College Melbourne, Mia Robinson and Joseph Nolan, conducted by Benjamin Northey with Christopher Watson as choral director and narrated by Mel Gibson. The awards are Finsterer’s seventh and eighth Art Music Awards wins.
Genevieve Lacey was awarded Work of the Year: Electroacoustic/Sound Art for the evocative sound installation Breathing Space at the National Museum of Australia and Luminary Award – National Individual for the inspiring breadth and depth of her collaborative relationships, including the mentoring of young artists, championing diversity within Australian art music, and leading through her own artistic practice.
Sally Whitwell’s “meta-opera” Margaret and the Grey Mare highlighting colonialist racism and unquestioned misogyny in the canonical repertoire won Work of the Year: Dramatic.
Work of the Year: Jazz was presented to Cheryl Durongpisitkul for A Pinky Promise, a provocative work reflecting on her experiences as woman of colour in the jazz community.
Alice Chance’s Through Changing Landscape, an homage to travel and long train journeys, commissioned by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s Fifty Fanfares project won Work of the Year: Large Ensemble.
Kate Milligan’s innovative Visions | Vestiges, commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra Soundhub Project in 2023, a work written with animated notation to be read directly through a crystal ball earned the gong for Work of the Year: Chamber Music.
Mindy Meng Wang and Paul Grabowsky AO were awarded Performance of the Year: Jazz/Improvised Music for bringing to life their collaborative work Spring, Flower, Snow and the Moon 春花秋月, a seamless introduction of the Chinese Guzheng into Western and improvised music.
The Excellence Awards recognise projects which champion cross-cultural collaboration and artistic practice in contemporary Australian art music. They went to The Song Room for Excellence in Music Education building thriving communities for children in remote Northern Territory through the co-creation of Australian music centred on important local people, places, ways of creating, learning and being through music education; to Tura for The Journey Down, for Excellence in a Regional Area, a work which resulted from deep engagement with community, touring over 3,456km of regional Western Australia; and to Gelareh Pour and Brian O’Dwyer for their project ZÖJ, a voice and percussion duo who have released a debut album and sold-out shows blending traditional Persian elements with contemporary Australian sounds, winning the award for Excellence in Experimental Practice.
Image: Luminary Award winners. RC Stills
