16 July 2019
2019 Art Music Awards: finalists
The 2019 Art Music Awards finalists have been announced after a particularly competitive round, with a record number of nominations in the history of the Awards. The quantity, the quality and the variety of projects and works included makes a powerful statement about the rich range of talent and the sheer volume of creative work by today's Australian art music practitioners.
Of particular importance in 2019 is the presence of several emerging names among the finalists; and the very healthy number of nominations for categories recognising achievement by organisations, educators and excellence in regional areas. This reinforces the significance of the annual Art Music Awards as the only event in Australia that specifically acknowledges achievements in the fields of the composition, performance, education and presentation of Australian art music.
In an area where it has been challenging for female composers to secure commissions and performances, the finalists in the Orchestral Work of the Year category are Elena Kats-Chernin's Piano Concerto no. 3 Lebewohl; Melody Eötvös's Ruler of the Hive, Cathy Milliken's DACCORD; and Carl Vine's concerto for two pianos and orchestra, Implacable Gifts.
In the category of Vocal / Choral Work of the Year, Rachel
Bruerville is on the finalists list with her work In Due
Season - a fine achievement from the SA-based emerging
composer. Alice
Chance's
The Audience Choir, an exciting work involving
participation by the audience wielding mobile phones; Andrew
Ford's orchestral song cycle
The Drowners; and
Damien Ricketson's unconventional opera
The Howling Girls complete the list.
The Instrumental Work of the Year finalists include
Robert Davidson's
Stalin's Piano; Mary
Finsterer's duet for viola d'amore and cello, Ignis;
Andrew
Ford's String Quartet no.6; and Piano Sonata by
Elizabeth Younan - a young NSW-based composer and an alumna
of Sydney Conservatorium's 'Composing Women' program.
Jazz Work of the Year finalists are Gratitude and Grief
- a collaborative project by Katie Noonan, Zac Hurren, Stephen
Magnusson and Michael Leunig, featuring spoken word, vocals,
improvisation, and live drawing; young SA-based composer-pianist
Brenton Foster's cycle of modern jazz songs Love, As We Know
It; Joshua Kyle and Andrew Murray's Trombone Song
Cycle (featuring four trombonists); and bassist-composer
Ross McHenry's Nothing Remains Unchanged.
Performance of the Year finalists in 2019 include the team behind
Victorian Opera's feminist retelling of the Lorelei
legend; Taikoz, Sydney Symphony Orchestra and soloists for their
performance of
Lachlan Skipworth's work Breath of Thunder; Speak
Percussion and Jessica Aszodi for their performance of Liza
Lim's Atlas of the Sky; and Ray Chen and Julien
Quentin for their performances of
Matthew Hindson's Violin Sonata no. 1 Dark Matter as
part of their Musica Viva tour.
Categories recognising excellence by individuals, organisations
and educators, excellence in the areas of experimental music and
in jazz, and in regional areas, include a wide range of projects,
from local to regional and national.
The Art Music Awards winners in eleven national categories, as well as state or territory awards, will be announced on Monday 19 August at the Great Hall of the University of Sydney, with a live performance program curated by composer-pianist Barney McAll; and Jonathan Biggins as the evening's host.
2019 Art Music Awards finalists
Vocal / Choral Work of the Year
Title: In Due Season
Composer: Rachel Bruerville; text by Valerie Volk
Performer: Adelaide Chamber Singers
Title: The Audience Choir
Composer: Alice Chance
Performer: Ensemble Offspring with audience participation
Title: The Drowners
Composer: Andrew Ford; text by Tim Winton, George Barker,
Georgiana Molloy, Bruce Dawe,
Stevie Smith and William Shakespeare
Performer: Ruthless Jabiru, Morgan Pearse (baritone) & Kelly
Lovelady (conductor)
Title: The Howling Girls
Composer: Damien Ricketson
Performer: Sydney Chamber Opera: Jane Sheldon (soprano), Adena
Jacobs (director)
Jazz Work of the Year
Title: Gratitude and Grief
Composers: Katie Noonan, Zac Hurren, Stephen Magnusson and
Michael Leunig
Performers: Elixir et al.
Title: Love, As We Know It
Composer: Brenton Foster
Performers: Brenton Foster, Gideon Brazil, Stephen Magnusson,
Aaron McCollough
and Jordan Tarento
Title: Nothing Remains Unchanged
Composer: Ross McHenry
Performer: Ross McHenry Quartet feat. Eric Harland, Matthew
Sheens and Ben Wendel
Title: Trombone Song Cycle
Composers: Joshua Kyle and Andrew Murray
Performers: Joshua Kyle (voice), James Greening, James Macauley,
Jordan Murray &
Adrian Sherriff (trombones) and Andrew Murray (conductor)
Instrumental Work of the Year
Title: Ignis
Composer: Mary Finsterer
Performers: James Wannan (viola d'amore) and Christopher Pidcock
(cello)
Title: Piano Sonata
Composer: Elizabeth Younan
Performer: Joyce Yang
Title: Stalin's Piano
Composer: Robert Davidson
Performer: Sonya Lifschitz
Title: String Quartet No. 6
Composer: Andrew Ford
Performer: Flinders Quartet
Orchestral Work of the Year
Title: DACCORD: A diary of discourse
Composer: Cathy Milliken
Performers: Jessica Aszodi, Vladimir Gorbach, Adelaide Symphony
Orchestra
and Benjamin Northey (conductor)
Title: Implacable Gifts (Concerto for Two Pianos and
Orchestra)
Composer: Carl Vine
Performers: Kathryn Stott (piano), Piers Lane (piano), West
Australian Symphony Orchestra
and Rory Macdonald (conductor)
Publisher: Hal Leonard/Faber
Title: Lebewohl (Piano Concerto No. 3)
Composer: Elena Kats-Chernin
Performers: Tamara-Anna Cislowska (piano), Queensland Symphony
Orchestra
and Alondra de la Parra (conductor)
Publisher: Hal Leonard/Boosey & Hawkes Group
Title: Ruler of the Hive
Composer: Melody Eötvös
Performers: Pamela Rabe (narrator),Tasmanian Sydney Orchestra
and Marko Letonja (conductor)
Performance of the Year
Performer: Ali McGregor, Antoinette Halloran, Dimity Shepherd
and the Victorian Opera Chamber Orchestra, Phoebe Briggs (musical
director) and Sarah Giles (director)
Title: Lorelei
Composers: Julian Langdon, Casey Bennetto & Gillian Cosgriff;
librettists Bennetto and Cosgriff; concept by Ali McGregor
Performers: Ray Chen & Julien Quentin
Title: Violin Sonata No. 1: Dark Matter
Composer: Matthew Hindson
Publisher: Hal Leonard/Faber
Performers: Speak Percussion with Jessica Aszodi
Title: Atlas of the Sky
Composer: Liza Lim; texts by Bei Dao and Eliot Weinberger
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing MGB obo Ricordi Berlin
Performers: Taikoz, Riley Lee, Kaoru Watanabe, Sydney Symphony
Orchestra
and Gerard Salonga, conductor
Title: Breath of Thunder
Composer: Lachlan Skipworth
Award for Excellence by an Organisation
• Canberra International Music Festival for sustained creative
excellence, exceptional growth and cultivation of Australian
music
• City Recital Hall, for Extended Play Festival of New Music
• Plexus for sustained and creative contribution to Australian
music culture
• Zephyr Quartet for their 2018 activities and 20 years of
sustained contribution to the local, national and international
arts scene
Award for Excellence by an Individual
• Brian Ritchie for sustained contribution to the Australian
music sector as a performer, curator and mentor
• Cat
Hope for leadership in the composition, performance and
education of new music in Australia
• Lyn Williams for significant contribution to the creation and
performance of choral music in Australia
• Michelle Leonard for 25 years championing Australian Art music
Award for Excellence in Music Education
• Musica Viva Australia for Musica Viva In Schools long-term
music residency program
• Speak Percussion for the Sounds Unheard education program
• Topology for Top Up music education program
• West Australian Symphony Orchestra for Crescendo, El
Sistema-inspired free music education program
Award for Excellence in a Regional Area
• Moorambilla Voices for 2018 activities and ongoing commitment
to cultural competency and the creation of art music for youth
from remote and rural NSW
• Queensland Symphony Orchestra for Gladstone Enrichment through
Music program
• Steel City Strings for activities in 2018 and commitment to new
Australian music
• Warren H Williams, Michael
Sollis and Barkly Arts for 'One Sky Many Stories', inspiring
audiences as they explore their relationship to the night sky,
Indigenous culture and the world around us.
Award for Excellence in Experimental Music
• Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music for their
ongoing contribution
• Leah
Barclay for 'Listening Underwater', a large-scale
experimental music and acoustic ecology project
• Speak Percussion and for Polar Force, an investigation
of wind, water and ice through sound
• Thembi Soddell for Held Down, Expanding, an
exploration of states of trauma and mental distress, and how
these may be imagined sonically
Award for Excellence in Jazz
• Andrea
Keller for new works, projects, recordings and educational
output
• Jeremy
Rose for high artistic excellence, and contribution to the
creation, presentation and promotion of Australian jazz
• Niko Schauble for recording activities at Pughouse Studio
• Ross McHenry for recording, international touring, residencies
and commissions
> Art Music
Awards - more information and previous winners (AMC
Online)
© Australian Music Centre (2019) — Permission must be obtained from the AMC if you wish to reproduce this article either online or in print.
Comments
Be the first to share add your thoughts and opinions in response to this article.
You must login to post a comment.