The Art Music Awards for 2017 have been handed out at a gala reception at the City Recital Hall in Sydney.
Taking out two awards was Melbourne composer Liza Lim for Instrumental of the Year and Vocal/Choral Work of the Year.
The Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music (as determined by the APRA Board of Writer and Publisher Directors) was presented to the legendary John Pochée OAM for his influential and visionary work as a jazz drummer and bandleader.
2017 ART MUSIC AWARDS WINNERS
Distinguished Services to Australian Music – John Pochée OAM
Orchestral Work of the Year
Title: Serenade for Tenor, Saxophone and Orchestra (“My Dear Benjamin”)
Composer: Lyle Chan
Text: Benjamin Britten and Wulff Scherchen
Performer: Andrew Goodwin tenor, Michael Duke saxophone, Queensland Symphony Orchestra and Paul
Kildea conductor
Performance of the Year
Performer: Peter de Jager
Title: Piano Sonata
Composer: Chris Dench
Vocal / Choral Work of the Year
Title: Tree of Codes
Composer: Liza Lim
Performer: Ensemble MusikFabrik; Cologne Opera, Clement Power conductor, Massimo Furlan director
Publishers: Universal Music Publishing MGB Australia obo G. Ricordi & Co. Bühnen- und Musikverlag
GmbH
Jazz Work of the Year
Title: Now Noise
Composer: Tom O’Halloran
Performer: Memory of Elements
Instrumental Work of the Year
Title: How Forests Think
Composer: Liza Lim
Performer: ELISION, Wu Wei soloist, Carl Rosman conductor
Publishers: Universal Music Publishing MGB Australia obo G. Ricordi & Co. Bühnen- und Musikverlag
GmbH
Award for Excellence by an Organisation
Speak Percussion for their 2016 program and sustained contribution to Australian music
Award for Excellence by an Individual
Daryl Buckley for over thirty years of contribution to the international projection of Australian contemporary
performance, ideas and practice
Award for Excellence in Music Education
Moorambilla Voices for their 2016 season
Award for Excellence in a Regional Area
Tura New Music for their 2016 Regional Program
Award for Excellence in Experimental Music
Clocked Out with Bruce and Jocelyn Wolfe for The Piano Mill Project
Award for Excellence in Jazz
Andrea Keller for the creation, presentation and release of contemporary jazz in 2016
ACT Award for Instrumental Work of the Year
The 7 Great Inventions Of The Modern Industrial Age by Sally Greenaway
NSW Award for Excellence in Music Education
Sydney Improvised Music Association (SIMA) for Young Women’s Jazz Workshop program
NT Award for Excellence in a Regional Area
Ngarukuruwala for Ngiya Awungarra (I Am Here, Now)
QLD Award for Excellence by an Individual
Vanessa Tomlinson for conceiving and curating the 2016 Australian Percussion Gathering
SA Award for Performance of the Year
Adelaide Chamber Singers for Agnus Dei (Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep) by Paul Stanhope
TAS Award for Excellence by an Organisation
Mona for Dark Mofo 2016
VIC Award for Performance of the Year
Chamber Made Opera for Permission To Speak by Kate Neal
WA Award for Jazz Work Of The Year
Help You Along Your Way by Daniel Susnjar
The Art Music Awards also paid tribute to those members of our music community who passed away since last
meeting, in honouring Patrick Thomas (1932 – 2017), Tomasz Śpiewak (1936 -2017), Robert Allworth (1943 – 2017), Dr Allan Zavod OAM (1945 – 2016), Richard Divall AO OBE (1945 – 2017), Richard Toop (1945 – 2017), Irene Hendricks (1952 – 2017), Janet Seidel (1955 – 2017), Graham Wood (1971 – 2017) and James Wade (1979 – 2017).
2017 ART MUSIC AWARDS
Tuesday 22 August
City Recital Hall, Sydney
With host Simon Marnie and live music curation by Gabriella Smart
