Five tracks to know: Highlights from the 2017 APRA Art Music Awards winners

Liza Lim – ‘The Heart’s Ear’

Internationally acclaimed composer Liza Lim is a highly regarded figure in Australian music. She is known for her intricately sensuous scores, with cross-cultural practice at the heart of her music. She was one of three women voted into the top ten when Limelight Magazine ran its Greatest Australian Composers poll in September 2014.

A strong advocate and mentor for women composers, Professor Lim this year joined the composition unit at the University of Sydney’s Conservatorium of Music after working overseas for the past nine years. The part-time appointment – her first major academic position in Australia – will bolster the efforts of the Con to nurture and mentor emerging women composers through its national women composer’s development programme, instigated last year.

Liza Lim has taken out two awards at the 2017 Art Music Awards for Vocal / Choral Work of the Year for Tree of Codesand Instrumental Work of the Year for How Forests Think.

MOE – ‘Lines’

Tom O’Halloran leads his own original jazz piano trio outfit. He conducts orchestras from time to time too, composes experimental music, and plays analogue synthesizers.He plays a myriad of styles and leads the Jazz Piano department at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) at Edith Cowan University, and also lectures in jazz composition and improvisation.

In 2016 Tom released an album entitled Now Noisefor his group Memory of Elements (MoE). MoE is a constant project, and is comprised of Jamie Oehlers (saxophone), Carl Mackey (saxophone), Simon Jeans (guitar), Pete Jeavons (bass) and Ben Vanderwal (drums).

He is the winner of the Jazz Work of the Year award at the 2017 Art Music Awards.

Ten Part Invention – ‘Spirit Song’

‘Spirit Song’ is a milestone in the history of Australian jazz. Written and performed by the 10-piece ensemble Ten Part Invention, the band featured the legendary John Pochée who is the 2017 Art Music Awards recipient of the Distinguished Services to Australian Music honour.

Only a musician of Pochée’s personality and standing could have gathered and held together such a group, whose personnel reads like a who’s who of Australia’s most creative modern jazz musicians. The band has had a remarkably stable personnel, which has enabled it to evolve into the finest large ensemble in Australian jazz.

ELISIONEnsemble – ‘Incipits’

ELISION began life performing at the Footscray Community Arts Centre in Melbourne in 1986 and has since established its international reputation as a new music ensemble through its engagement with complex and virtuosically challenging aesthetics. ELISION’s 16-strong membership includes some of the world’s leading musicians who have defined contemporary instrumental technique with their recordings and publications.

Over 30 years, the ensemble has focused its practice on exploring musical form with cross-artform and transcultural perspectives, providing inspiring models of collaborative practice, which has had an impact on succeeding generations of artists.

ELISION Ensemble’s Artistic Director Daryl Buckley is the recipient 2017 Art Music Award for Excellence by an Individual, which he receives for over thirty years of contribution to the international projection of Australian contemporary performance, ideas and practice.

Andrea Keller Quartet – ‘Reflection’

Andrea Keller is an Australian pianist and composer, dedicated to the performance and creation of contemporary jazz and improvised music.

She has created and devised numerous albums and projects, and has been highly lauded, receiving three ARIA Awards, four Australian Jazz ‘Bell’ Awards, an Art Music Award, and fellowships from the MCA/Freedman Foundation and the Australia Council.

She recently received an APRA Professional Development Award, and is also the recipient of the 2017 Art Music Award for Excellence in Jazz for the creation, presentation and release of contemporary jazz in 2016.