Finalists Announced For 2025 Art Music Awards
APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre (AMC) are thrilled to announce the finalists for the 2025 Art Music Awards, to be held on Thursday 21 August at the City Recital Hall in Sydney.
Finalists have been revealed for 11 of the 15 categories spanning composition, performance, excellence in music education, experimental practice and activity in regional areas. Chosen from a broad pool of nominations from peers and audience members, these finalists represent the cream of the crop in contemporary Australian art music.
Chamber music group, Australian String Quartet, are dual finalists in Performance of the Year: Notated Composition for Jack Symonds’ Gilgamesh and Dr Lou Bennett AM and Paul Stanhope’s work nyilamum song cycles. Dr Bennett AM also receives a nod for her performance of the work, as well as a nomination alongside Paul Stanhope for Work of the Year: Chamber Music.
Aviva Endean’s experimental project, The Breath Becomes the Wind, has earned its place as a finalist for Work of the Year: Electroacoustic/Sound Art and Excellence in Experimental Practice.
Experimental double bassist, Helen Svoboda, has also earned finalist status for two projects: her work Headwater, nominated for Work of the Year: Chamber Music, as well as being one of seven performers on Chloe Kim’s Music for Six Double Bassists, nominated for Performance of the Year: Jazz/Improvised Music.
Olivia Davies’ star continues to rise in her third consecutive year. In 2023 she took home Work of the Year: Electroacoustic/Sound Art and this year her orchestral work, Hyphae, commissioned for the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, contends for Work of the Year: Large Ensemble. Her interdisciplinary collaboration with 2024 Work of the Year: Chamber Music winner, Kate Milligan, and flautist Jonty Coy is also in the running for Work of the Year: Electroacoustic/Sound Art.
The winners of the four remaining awards, the Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music and the three Luminary Awards for individuals and organisations who have made sustained contributions to Australian art music nationally and within each state and territory, will be announced in August.
The Art Music Awards is an annual celebration of the national art music community, recognising excellence among creators, performers and community leaders in contemporary classical, jazz, experimental music and sound art.
