Winners of the 2023 Art Music Awards announced – Limelight
Aptly hosted at a performance venue former industrial spaces have echoed to an array of Australian music both fine and daring, the 2023 Art Music Awards took place tonight at Carriageworks in Sydney.
The awards, presented by APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre, honour the outstanding achievements of contemporary Australian musicians at the forefront of contemporary classical, jazz, sound art, improvised and experimental music.
Phoebe Russell performs the world premiere of Paul Dean’s Double Bass Concerto, commissioned by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Photo supplied
Work of the Year in the Choral category was awarded to Three Night Songs by Heather Percy, a work that pieces together a portrait of the night from three different angles. Premiered in June by the Sydney Chamber Choir, the work became a highlight of a program which received a 4 ½ star Limelight review. Its recording also features on the recent ABC Classic release Women of Note: Vol 5.
In the Dramatic category for Work of the Year, Shervin Mirzeinali received the award for his new experimental opera Panbe Zan. In a musical fusion of Persian tradition and Western modernism, the work explores the unique sound world encircling the Iranian custom of cotton beating. The work can be viewed in its entirety here.
Pianist and composer Nat Bartsch was awarded Work of the Year in Jazz for Busy/Quiet. Commissioned and recorded by ABC Jazz in honour of International Women’s Day, Bartsch has dedicated her piece to the distinct struggle faced by women and musicians in particular during COVID lockdowns as represented by swirling polyrhythms.
Paul Dean’s Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra takes home the Work of the Year – Large Ensemble award. Written especially for Phoebe Russell, the witty work is peppered with in-jokes to catch both its soloist and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra which made for an ‘great joy’ of a world premiere, as noted by Limelight reviewer Margaret Tesch-Muller.
The Chamber Music Work of the Year was given to Lachlan Skipworth for Pine Chant, a work for bassoon, clarinet, English horn and electronics. It utilises data tracking annual patterns of tree growth as an impetus for structure and musical development, essentially realising the impact of the current climate crisis in sound. The piece can be heard in a creative take on the scrolling score video here.
The award for the Work of the Year in Electroacoustic/Sound art was given to Melbourne-based composer Rebecca Bracewell for Spirals. The audiovisual work (which can be seen here) revolutionises the purpose of hearing aids, spotlighting them as musical objects through the use of feedback. It’s a work that floored me as a reviewer.
The first award for Performance of the Year in Jazz/Improvised Music was given to The Cloud Maker, as performed and composed by cellist Freya Schack-Arnott, clarinettist Aviva Endean, vocalist Sunny Kim, erhu player Jasmin Wing-Yin Leung, drummer Maria Moles and vocalist and tāonga pūoro practitioner Te Kahureremoa Taumata. The work, also given a UKARIA residency and 2023 Art Music Fund, brings together goddess creation stories and legends from across the varied cultures of its creators.
Dr Lou Bennett. Image supplied.
In Notated Composition, both Omega Ensemble and Dr Lou Bennett have won the award for their performance of Bennett’s song cycle, nyerrnur, nyarkur – to hear, to see. Inspired by weekend visits to the bush, Bennett told Limelight that the work draws upon the “Indigenous practice of listening with the whole body … and deepening one’s understanding of communication with other earth, the cosmos and every living being.”
Laura Andrew and Elizabeth Jigalin have received the Award for Excellence in Music Education for Sound and Stories. The project engaged students from Cobar High School in the composition of popular music and the gathering of field recordings and local stories, culminating in the presentation of a sound installation.
The experimental duo Alluvium have won the award for Excellence in a Regional Area for the creation of the soundtrack for Paper on Skin, an excerpt of which can be heard here.
Paper on Skin is a competition based in Burnie, Tasmania, that invites international artists to make garments out of paper in celebration of the city’s history in paper-making.
Queensland-based composer, mezzo soprano and sound artist Eve Klein clinched the Award for Excellence in Experimental Practice for her City Symphony. Able to be experienced by Brisbanites through an iOS or Android phone app, the work uses real-time data from a user’s location to inform the music, which is uniquely shaped as an individual navigates aspects of the city’s history.
This year’s Luminary Award for an Individual recognises the nationwide achievements of Ronald Peelman as a musician, arts leader and mentor.
Moorambilla Voices, an organisation which creates, shares and records Australian art music across regional NSW, has been given the Luminary Award for a National Organisation.
The Luminary Awards for State and Territory pioneers were awarded to AJ America (ACT), SIIMA (NSW), MADE NOW MUSIC (QLD), Creative Original Music Adelaide (SA), Julius Schwing (TAS), Homophonic! Developer Miranda Hill (VIC) and Tone List (WA).
At the ceremony, William Barton accepted the Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music. He was announced as its recipient earlier this month, and is the first Indigenous musician to receive the award, as well as the youngest.
Work of the Year- Choral
Three Night Songs – Heather Percy
Performed by Sydney Chamber Choir & Sam Allchurch, conductor
Work of the Year- Dramatic
Panbe Zan – Shervin Mirzeinali
Performed by Maximillian Alduca, Majid Amani, Harry Birch, Danial Bozorgi, Arman Gouniaei, Ehsan Kachooei, Agnes Sarkis & Ali Yarmohammadi, Marjan Lotfali, director
Work of the Year – Jazz
Busy/Quiet – Nat Bartsch
Performed by Nat Bartsch Quartet, Ellen Kirkwood & Loretta Palmeiro
Work of the Year – Large Ensemble
Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra – Paul Dean
Performed by Phoebe Russell & Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Johannes Fritzsch, conductor
Work of the Year- Chamber Music
Pine Chant – Lachlan Skipworth
Performed by Sara Fraker, Jackie Glazier, Marissa Olegario & Lachlan Skipworth
Work of the Year- Electroacoustic/Sound Art
Spirals – Rebecca Bracewell
Performed by Rebecca Bracewell
Performance of the Year – Jazz/Improvised Music
The Cloud Maker
Composed and performed by Freya Schack-Arnott, Aviva Endean, Sunny Kim, Jasmin Wing-Yin Leung, Maria Moles, and Te Kahureremoa Taumata
Performance of the Year – Notated Composition
nyernur, nyarkur – to see, to hear
Performed by Omega Ensemble & Dr Lou Bennett AM
Composed by Dr Lou Bennett AM
Award for Excellence in Music Education
Laura Andrew and Elizabeth Jigalin for Cobar High School’s Sounds & Stories
Award for Excellence in a Regional Area
Alluvium for Paper on Skin soundtrack
Award for Excellence in Experimental Practice
Eve Klein for City Symphony
Richard Gill Awards for Distinguished Services to Australian Music
William Barton
Luminary – National Individual
Roland Peelman AM for sustained service to Australian music as a conductor, pianist, artistic director and mentor to composers, singers and instrumentalists.
Luminary – National Organisation
Moorambilla Voices for long-term commitment to creating Australian art music with and for young people in regional NSW.
Luminary – State/Territory
ACT: AJ America for leadership in the ACT.
NSW: SIMA for leadership through performance, artist development and education programs in Australian jazz.
QLD: MADE NOW MUSIC for MADE NOW MUSIC label and concert series.
SA: Creative Original Music Adelaide (COMA) for COMA programs.
TAS: Julius Schwing for multiple album releases through his label Isthmus Music, touring and career development, and cultivating and fostering the Tasmanian improvised/experimental music scene.
VIC: Miranda Hill for Homophonic!
WA: Tone List for Audible Edge Festival of Sound.
More about the 2023 Art Music Awards can be found here.
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