Aviva Endean and Mindy Meng Wang have emerged as the most recognised finalists for the 2026 Art Music Awards, each receiving three nominations ahead of next month’s ceremony in Melbourne.
by Paul Cashmere
APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre have unveiled the finalists for the 2026 Art Music Awards, with performer, composer and sound artist Aviva Endean and composer and guzheng virtuoso Mindy Meng Wang leading this year’s field with three nominations each. The winners will be announced at The Timber Yard in Port Melbourne on Wednesday, 19 August, celebrating achievement across Australia’s contemporary classical, jazz, improvised music, sound art and experimental music communities.
The annual awards recognise creators, performers, educators and organisations contributing to Australian art music across 15 competitive categories, alongside honours acknowledging sustained service and leadership. This year’s finalists were selected from nominations submitted by peers and audiences, highlighting the diversity of work being produced across composition, performance, education, sound art and interdisciplinary practice.
Endean’s three nominations span both performance and composition. She is recognised twice in the Performance of the Year: Jazz & Improvised Music category, first for Lung Swara, created with Cahwatie Sugiarto and Matthias Schack-Arnott, and again for The Cloud Maker, performed with Freya Schack-Arnott, Jasmin Win-Ying Leung, Maria Moles, Sunny Kim and Te Kahreremoa Taumata. The Cloud Maker is also shortlisted for Work of the Year: Jazz & Improvised Music.
Wang also features prominently across multiple categories. She has been nominated for the Award for Excellence in Experimental Practice and is a finalist for Performance of the Year: Soloist for Jessica Wells’ Concerto for Guzheng and Orchestra, performed with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Wang and Monica Lim are also finalists in Work of the Year: Dramatic for Opera for the Dead.
Composer Damian Barbeler has secured two nominations for Duet for One, a multimedia collaboration with Tim Gruchy performed by pianist Sonya Lifschitz. The work is shortlisted for Work of the Year: Solo & Small Ensemble, while Lifschitz has also been recognised in the Performance of the Year: Soloist category for her interpretation of the piece.
Kate Milligan returns to the awards after winning the 2025 Work of the Year: Electroacoustic/Sound Art category. Her latest project, Dark Oceanography, is once again nominated in the same category. The collaborative work brings together artistic and scientific contributors including Aaron Wyatt, Louise Devenish and oceanographer Navid Constantinou.
Across the remaining categories, finalists reflect the breadth of Australia’s art music sector. In choral composition, nominees include works by Alice Chance, Paul Stanhope, Stephen Leek and Carl Crossin. The dramatic works category features compositions by Rósa Lind, Lyle Chan, Mindy Meng Wang and Monica Lim, and Nicholas Roder.
Jazz and improvised music finalists include Hamed Sadeghi’s Northern Rhapsody, The Cloud Maker, Aaron Choulai and Roman MC’s To Kill A Magic We Got Used To, and Nat Bartsch’s When All Is Still and Quiet. Large ensemble works from Andrew Schultz, Naomi Dodd, Alex Turley, Ben Robinson and collaborators Rrawun Maymuru and Nick Wales are also recognised.
Performance categories feature ensembles and artists from across the country, including the Australian String Quartet with Dr Lou Bennett AM, Speak Percussion, Duckworth Hullick Duo, Nick Russoniello, Claire Edwardes with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and Delay 45 with Ensemble Apex.
The awards also acknowledge contributions beyond composition and performance. Finalists for the Award for Excellence in Music Education include Ensemble Offspring’s Hatched Academy, Speak Percussion’s Sounds Unheard Program and 25th Anniversary Exhibition, Tim Nikolsky’s Australian Jazz Real Book, and Wollongong Conservatorium of Music’s Music in Schools program.
Regional music-making remains a significant focus, with Chamber Music Adelaide and Port Augusta Performing Arts, Moorambilla Voices, Tura in partnership with Marninwarntikura Women’s Resource Centre, and Van Diemen’s Band recognised for projects extending professional music practice beyond Australia’s major cities.
The Award for Excellence in Experimental Practice highlights Chamber Made, Mindy Meng Wang, The Sonicrats and Shaun Fogarty, reflecting the continuing evolution of interdisciplinary and technology-driven music practice.
The National Luminary Awards finalists have also been announced ahead of the ceremony. Organisations recognised for sustained contribution include Flinders Quartet, Forest Collective, Musica Viva Australia and Rubiks Collective. Individual finalists are Associate Professor Dr Jeanell Carrigan AM, Daryl Buckley, Jeremy Rose and Jon Smeathers.
Additional honours, including the Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music and the State Luminary Awards, will be presented during the ceremony on 19 August.
The 2026 Art Music Awards will be hosted by Namila Benson at The Timber Yard in Port Melbourne, with guest presenters Auro Go and Connor D’Netto and musical direction by Sia Ahmad.
The 2026 Art Music Awards finalists are:
Work of the Year: Choral
Adira Arenio and Agnus Dei
Composer: Alice Chance
Performer: Sydney Philharmonia Choirs VOX and Elizabeth Scott
Mahāsāgar
Composer: Paul Stanhope
Performer: West Australian Symphony Orchestra and Chorus with Sara Macliver, Andrew Goodwin and Asher Fisch
There Is Music
Composer: Stephen Leek
Performer: Brisbane Chamber Choir
Vivemus Cantare
Composer: Carl Crossin
Performer: Adelaide Chamber Singers and Christie Anderson
Work of the Year: Dramatic
Hiroshima mon Amour – Rósa Lind
Living Poems of the Sea – Lyle Chan
Opera for the Dead – Mindy Meng Wang and Monica Lim
Pigeon Humongous – Nicholas Roder
Work of the Year: Jazz & Improvised Music
Northern Rhapsody – Hamed Sadeghi
The Cloud Maker – Aviva Endean, Te Kahureremoa Taumata, Sunny Kim, Maria Moles and Freya Schack-Arnott
To Kill A Magic We Got Used To – Aaron Choulai and Roman MC
When All Is Still and Quiet – Nat Bartsch
Work of the Year: Large Ensemble
Nguy Gapu (Ocean Water) – Rrawun Maymuru and Nick Wales
Symphony No. 4, Op. 119 – Andrew Schultz
Clarinet Concertino: Second Chance – Ben Robinson
The Ocean’s Dream of Itself – Alex Turley
The Way It Soars, The Way It Dances – Naomi Dodd
Work of the Year: Medium Ensemble
BloodRiverRootTree – Noemi Liba Friedman
Four Rooms – Lee Bradshaw
The Big Idea – Matthew Shlomowitz
Sonnet of an Emigrant – Cathy Milliken
Work of the Year: Solo & Small Ensemble
Duet for One – Damian Barbeler
Killing the Angel in the House – Anne Cawrse
Tidelines – Zela Papageorgiou, Alistair McLean and Hamish Upton
Yama no Yume – Jim Franklin
Work of the Year: Electroacoustic/Sound Art
Dark Oceanography – Kate Milligan
Exhalation – Madeleine Flynn and Tim Humphrey
For A Moment the Sky Knew My Name – Peter Knight
Swell – Annie Hui-Hsin Hsieh
Performance of the Year: Jazz & Improvised Music
Aviva Endean, Cahwatie Sugiarto and Matthias Schack-Arnott – Lung Swara
Mad Vantage – PRESS
The Cloud Maker – The Cloud Maker
Delay 45 and Ensemble Apex – Ghosts Between Streams II
Performance of the Year: Classical & Experimental
Australian String Quartet & Dr Lou Bennett AM – nyilamum song cycles
Sonja Schebeck with Joshua Frazer and Allie Wang – LIMBO Sonata
Speak Percussion – Pigeons
Duckworth Hullick Duo – Disruptive Critters
Performance of the Year: Soloist
Claire Edwardes with Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra – Dances with Devils
Mindy Meng Wang with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra – Concerto for Guzheng and Orchestra
Nick Russoniello – Air Mass Suite
Sonya Lifschitz – Duet for One
Award for Excellence in Music Education
Ensemble Offspring – Hatched Academy
Speak Percussion – Sounds Unheard Program & 25th Anniversary Exhibition
Tim Nikolsky – Australian Jazz Real Book
Wollongong Conservatorium of Music – Music in Schools Program
Award for Excellence in a Regional Area
Chamber Music Adelaide & Port Augusta Performing Arts – Where We Meet: Chamber Music
Moorambilla Voices
Tura & Marninwarntikura Women’s Resource Centre – Buga Yanu Junba (Songs for Young Children)
Van Diemen’s Band – VDB Lunchbox Concerts
Award for Excellence in Experimental Practice
Chamber Made
Mindy Meng Wang
The Sonicrats
Shaun Fogarty
Luminary Awards: National Organisation
Flinders Quartet
Forest Collective
Musica Viva Australia
Rubiks Collective
Luminary Awards: National Individual
Associate Professor Dr Jeanell Carrigan AM
Daryl Buckley
Jeremy Rose
Jon Smeathers
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