CONTENT COURTESY APRA AMCOS
The 2020 Art Music Awards have been celebrated in a virtual ceremony fit for a creative nation, with winning artists and organisations spanning the country from east to west, and from Tasmania to the Northern Territory.
Presented annually by APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre, the Art Music Awards acknowledge the achievements of composers, performers and educators in the genres of contemporary classical music, jazz, improvisation, sound art and experimental music. The 2020 awards included several new and restructured categories, in tune with the constantly evolving art music landscape.
The inaugural national Luminary Award for an individual, for sustained contribution over several years, was presented to Dharug composer Chris Sainsbury for initiating and driving the Ngarra-Burria: First Nations Composers program, a critically important project. According to the judging panel: “Chris’ work over the past five years has had a national impact in both training emerging First Nations composers and redefining their role and future within Australian art music.”
The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra was the recipient for the Luminary Award for an Organisation, for long-term commitment offering professional development for Australian composers and musicians, as well as promoting gender equity through opportunities for female conductors. The TSO’s support of Australian music was also evident in this year’s finalists list.
The Performance of the Year Awards – for the first time presented in two categories – were a show of strength by women in particular. Western Australian percussionist Louise Devenish won the Notated Music category with her program Sheets of Sound; while Sandy Evans’ Bridge of Dreams
team (Sandy Evans, Shubha Mudgal, Aneesh Pradhan and Sirens Big Band) took home the inaugural Performance of the Year: Jazz/Improvised Music Award. Devenish is also winner of the Luminary Award for Western Australia.
The new Work of the Year: Dramatic category made Awards history in having two winners. The judging panel unanimously agreed to award two very different but equally outstanding operatic works: Elliott Gyger and Pierce Wilcox’s Oscar and Lucinda, based on Peter Carey’s novel; and Cat
Hope’s Speechless — a wordless opera with a graphic notation score generated from the 2014 Human Rights Commission Report about children in immigration detention.
Bassist and composer Linda May Han Oh (shown in our featured image) continued Western Australia’s strong performance by taking home the Art Music Award for Work of the Year: Jazz for her Aventurine – “a pinnacle of what jazz can be in Australia today” according to the judging panel.
The new Award for Work of the Year: Electroacoustic/Sound Art went to the Melbourne-based Matthias Schack-Arnott’s Everywhen, praised by the panel as “stunning in conception and in execution”.
In the new Work of the Year: Choral category Paul Stanhope’s work to Steve Hawke’s text I am Martuwarra was acknowledged as “a texturally varied and interesting work that harnesses the richness of the multi-layered choral forces to great effect”. Commissioned by Gondwana Choirs, the work’s title refers to the Fitzroy River in the Kimberley Region.
James Ledger’s Viola Concerto won the Award for Work of the Year: Large Ensemble, the judges calling it “a highly sophisticated work with its innovative harmonic language and beautiful synergy between all its elements”.
The Work of the Year: Chamber Music went to Chris Dench’s extensive solo piano composition passing bells:day, “an extraordinary contribution to the repertoire”.
The Award for Excellence in Music Education went to Netanela Mizrahi and Guwanbal Gurruwiwi for the Djari Project. A finalist in two categories this year, the project is a compositional collaboration drawing on the traditional knowledge and songlines from the Galpu community of Galiwinku/Elcho Island, bringing together composers, musicians, music educators and students throughout the Northern Territory.
The Award for Excellence in Experimental Music was presented to the Music Box Project for Shallow Listening, a concert experience demonstrating ability to facilitate, curate and perform experimental music at the highest level.
The Award for Excellence in a Regional Area went to Gillian Howell and Tura New Music for the Fitzroy Valley New Music Project, a third and final year of residencies developing music projects through community collaboration and open exchange of ideas.
Composer and sound artist Dr Ros Bandt formally accepted her Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music, announced in August, and presented at the ceremony by Dr Leah Barclay.
The new Luminary Awards State/Territory category winners are the Canberra International Music Festival (ACT), Joanna Drimatis (NSW), Ross McHenry (SA), David Wilfred and Daniel Wilfred (NT), Louise Devenish (WA), Making Waves (VIC), Michael Kieran-Harvey (TAS), and Katie Noonan (QLD).
The 10th annual Art Music Awards were co-hosted by Jonathan Biggins, Dr Lou Bennett AM and Zela Margossian, with performances by Robin Fox and Erkki Veltheim, Louise Devenish and Thea Rossen, Linda May Han Oh with Fabian Almazan and Ben Vanderwal, Melanie Mununggurr-Williams, and Beatrice Lewis. The performance program was curated by Barney
McAll.
CutCommon would like to congratulate all winners and finalists of the 2020 Art Music Awards!
Visit the APRA AMCOS website for further detail about the awards and associate artists.
Images supplied.
