Finalists announced for 2021 Art Music Awards
APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre have revealed the finalists for this year’s Art Music Awards.
Celebrating the talents of Australia’s finest contemporary classical, jazz and experimental composers and performers, this year’s awards will occur at the North Melbourne Meat Market on Tuesday August 17, and will also consist of a number of live performances curated by Barney McCall.
Featuring an unprecedented 23 first-time finalists, each of the works spotlighted in the 2021 Art Music Awards helps to showcase the resilience and creativity of the Australian arts sector amid a year of hardship.
Among the nominees for this year’s awards are The Saints’ guitarist Ed Kuepper and the Alister Spence Trio, Holly Harrison, Cathy Milliken, Mindy Meng Wang, Sydney Chamber Opera and Peggy Polias, who will be celebrated in 12 different categories.
Luminary Awards will also be given to individuals or groups who have contributed to their state or territory’s musical community, with the APRA Board of Directors also naming the recipient of this year’s Richard Gill Award For Distinguished Services to Australian Music.
A full list of finalists for the 20221 Art Music Awards can be viewed below.
2021 Art Music Awards Finalists
Work of the Year – Choral
Composer: Clare Maclean
Text: Traditional
Performer: VOYCESTitle: Sacred Stepping Stones
Composer Lisa Young
Text: Lisa Young
Performers: Massed choir, Gondwana National Choral School 2020 and Lisa Young, conductor
Title: Singing in Tune with Nature
Composer: Amanda Cole
Performers: N.E.O. Voice Festival artists
Title: Until We Gather Again
Composer: Alice Chance
Text: Alice Chance
Performers: Leichhardt Espresso Chorus and Michelle Leonard OAM, artistic director
Work of the Year- Dramatic
Title: Commute
Composer: Peggy Polias
Text: Pierce Wilcox
Performers: Sydney Chamber Opera, Jessica O’Donoghue, Jack Symonds, conductor, and Clemence Williams, director
Title: Dragon Ladies Don’t Weep; a Chamber Made & CultureLink Singapore co production
Composer: Erik Griswold
Performers: Marga
and Kok Heng Leun, dramaturg.
Title: Her Dark Marauder
Composer: Georgia Scott
Text: Pierce Wilcox
Performers: Sydney Chamber Opera, Jane Sheldon, Jessica O’Donoghue, Simon Lobelson, Jack Symonds, conductor, and Danielle Maas, director.
Title: The Tent
Composer: Josephine Macken
Text: Josephine Macken
Performers: Sydney Chamber Opera, Simon Lobelson, Mitchell Riley, Jane Sheldon, Jack Symonds, conductor and Danielle Maas, director.
Work of the Year – Jazz
Title: All Who Travel With Us
Composer: Loretta Palmeiro and Mark Isaacs
Performers: Loretta Palmeiro and Mark Isaacs
Title: Asteroid Ekosystem
Composers: Alister Spence, Lloyd Swanton, Toby Hall and Ed Kuepper*
Performers: Alister Spence Trio with Ed Kuepper
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing*
Title: Living
Composer: Paul Cutlan
Performers: Paul Cutlan String Project (Paul Cutlan, Liisa Pallandi, Caroline Hopson, James
Eccles, Oliver Miller, Brett Hirst and Tunji Beier)
Title: Spaccanapoli
Composer: Vanessa Perica
Performer: Vanessa Perica Orchestra
Work of the Year – Large Ensemble
Title: Kadosh Kadosh and Cursed
Composer: Yitzhak Yedid
Performers: Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (NEM) and Lorraine Vaillancourt, conductor
Title: Piece 43 For Now
Composer: Cathy Milliken
Performers: SWR Symphonieorchester and Titus Engel, conductor
Title: Splinter
Composer: Holly Harrison
Performers: San Jose State University Wind Ensemble and David Vickerman, conductor
Title: When I stand before thee at the day’s end
Composer: Cyrus Meurant
Performers: Kirsten Williams and Canberra Symphony Orchestra
Work of the Year- Chamber Music
Title: A Room of Her Own
Composer: Anne Cawrse
Performer: Australian String Quartet
Title: Canyon 1205
Composer: Kate Neal and Grischa Lichtenberger
Performer: Blair Harris, cello
Title: Clarinet Quintet
Composer: Gordon Kerry
Performer: Omega Ensemble
Title: Hidden Thoughts II: Return to Sender
Composer: Katy Abbott
Text: Compiled by Katy Abbott and Maureen Johnson, based on letters sent by Australians to asylum seekers in detention
Performers: Flinders Quartet with Dimity Shepherd, mezzo-soprano, and Richard Piper, narrator
Work of the Year- Electroacoustic/Sound Art
Title: An Improvisation Through Time and Space 穿越时光的即兴
Composer: Mindy Meng Wang
Performer: Mindy Meng Wang, guzheng
Title: Closed Beginnings
Composers: Tariro Mavondo, Reuben Lewis and Peter Knight
Performers: Tariro Mavondo, poetry, Reuben Lewis and Peter Knight, music, Jem Savage, sound production and Leo Dale, video production
Title: Fugue
Composer: Jane Sheldon
Text: David Rattray
Performers: Jane Sheldon, soprano, Kirsty McCahon, double bass, and Sydney Dance Company’s Pre-Professional Year 2020 cohort; Omer Backley-Astrachan, choreography.
Title: Oracle Chamber
Composer: Amanda Cole
Performers: Lamorna Nightingale, bass flute and James Nightingale, saxophone
Performance of the Year – Jazz/Improvised Music
Performers: Loretta Palmeiro and Mark Isaacs
Title: All Who Travel With Us
Composers: Loretta Palmeiro and Mark Isaacs
Performers: Phil Slater Quintet (Phil Slater, Brett Hirst, Matthew Keegan, Matthew McMahon and Simon Barker)
Title: The Golden Seam
Composer: Phil Slater, Brett Hirst, Matthew Keegan, Matthew McMahon and Simon Barker
Performer: Phonetic Orchestra
Title: Silent Towns
Composer: Phonetic Orchestra
Performer: Vazesh (Jeremy Rose, Hamed Sadeghi and Lloyd Swanton)
Title: The Sacred Key
Composer: Jeremy Rose*, Hamed Sadeghi and Lloyd Swanton
Publisher: Origin Music Publishing*
Performance of the Year – Notated Composition
Performer: Carl Rosman
Title: Subdue
Composer: Jakob Bragg
Performer: Emily Granger
Title: The Harp and the Moon
Composer: Ross Edwards
Publisher: BMG AM
Performer: Ensemble Offspring
Title: En Masse
Composer: Alex Pozniak
Performer: Sydney Chamber Opera, Jessica O’Donoghue, Jack Symonds, conductor, and Clemence Williams, director
Title: Commute
Composer: Peggy Polias,
Text: Pierce Wilcox
Award for Excellence in Music Education
- Australian Art Orchestra for Creative Music Intensive 2020
- Moorambilla Voices for Moorambilla Magic Modules
- Musica Viva for Musica Viva in Schools Online
- Speak Percussion for Sounds Unheard Education Program
Award for Excellence in Experimental Music
- Decibel New Music Ensemble for 2 Minutes from Home
- HiberNATION for Festival of the Lo-fi
- Keyna Wilkins for recording and developing new projects in 2020
- Leah Barclay, Lyndon Davis & Tricia King for Listening in the Wild