2022 Art Music Award winners

Winners include Paul Stanhope, Olivia Davies, Daniel & David Wilfred and Sia Ahmad

The winners of the 2022 Art Music Awards were announced this evening at Meat Market in North Melbourne, recognising some of Australia’s finest established and emerging artists, excelling in their fields. This year’s awards marked a return to an in-person event after two years of online announcements.

“What a thrill to celebrate the creativity of the art music community after a challenging two years! Congratulations to this year’s honourees for such beautiful and evocative works. And thanks to all in the Australian art music community for your sheer tenacity and ingenuity - creating and performing in such difficult and unpredictable circumstances – it is appreciated enormously by your audiences locally and globally,” said Dean Ormston, APRA AMCOS CEO and Catherine Haridy, Australian Music Centre CEO.

Presented annually by APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre (AMC), the Art Music Awards acknowledge the achievements of composers, performers, educators and leaders in the genres of contemporary classical music, jazz, improvisation, sound art and experimental music.

The winners and finalists of the 2022 Art Music Awards illustrate the power of collaboration and community in music-making. The Awards recognise the contributions of a diverse group of artists, but also their efforts to serve and represent culturally diverse audiences and communities around Australia.

The 2022 Art Music Award for Work of the Year: Choral was presented to Requiem by Paul Stanhope - a work combining the poetry of Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Neela Nath Das, Mary Elizabeth Frye and Emily Dickinson – premiered by the Sydney Chamber Choir in 2021.

The winner of Work of the Year: Dramatic was Poem for a Dried Up River by Jane Sheldon – a breath-taking work co-devised with installation artist and scenographer Elizabeth Gadsby.

Work of the Year: Jazz was awarded to Gian Slater’s Grey is Ground album – the artist’s sixth solo release, exploring the unknowns and mysteries of day-to-day life.

Work of the Year: Large Ensemble went to first-time winner Olivia Davies for Stratus, premiered by the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and conductor Asher Fisch – a standout achievement for the composer’s first commission for large orchestra.

Tristan Coelho’s Hokusai Mixtape was awarded Work of the Year: Chamber Music, a piece evoking the music of Debussy and Takemitsu.

Work of the Year: Electroacoustic/Sound Art was awarded to Depth Disintegration by Sia Ahmad, a mesmerising and unique work written specifically for Benjamin Anderson and the world’s only double-belled bass trombone.

Performance of the Year: Jazz/Improvised Music was awarded to Jeremy Rose & The Earshift Orchestrafeaturing Simon Barker and Chloe Kim, for their performance of their collaborative work, Disruption! The Voice of Drums.

Performance of the Year: Notated Composition was awarded to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Australian Art Orchestra, Paul Grabowsky AO, Daniel Wilfred, David Wilfred, conducted by Benjamin Northey, for WATA – a work marking new territory for Yolgnu song tradition and the symphony orchestra.

Honeybee Creative earned the Award for Excellence in Music Education for teaching neurologically diverse people music skills, songwriting and recording projects in the Sunshine Coast and Gympie regions of Queensland, culminating in a series of major public performances.

WA-based organisations Tura New Music and Marrugeku received the Award for Excellence in a Regional Areafor the Sonus3 program and tour, reaching communities across the Kimberley.

The Award for Excellence in Experimental Music was awarded to ADSR Zine for activities including exhibition, showcase and online catalogue of publications.

The Luminary Award for an Individual went to Liza Lim for her work in music composition, as well as her leadership in the Composing Women Program at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. The Luminary Award for an Organisation was awarded to the Australian Art Orchestra, for their sustained leadership and contribution as an organisation, recording, performing commissions and facilitating opportunities for others.

Luminaries were also acknowledged in state and territory-based categories. The Canberra Symphony Orchestra (ACT) were recognised for their Australian Series. Claire Edwardes (NSW), Kieran Welch (QLD), Mark Ferguson (SA), Andrea Keller (VIC), Mace Francis (WA) and Claire Kilgariff (NT) were each recognised for their sustained contribution to art music in their local communities through performance, artistic directorship, and mentorship. Simon Reade (TAS) was named a Luminary for his sustained contribution as a conductor.

The Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music was posthumously presented by Elliott Gyger to the late Nigel Butterley AM, celebrating his pioneering work as a composer, broadcaster and music educator. Recipients of the 2021 Distinguished Services Award, Penny Lomax and Maureen Cooney, were also celebrated at this year’s award ceremony for their sustained contribution to the Australian music as founding producers of ABC Radio National’s iconic The Music Show. The show’s host, Andrew Ford OAM was on hand to present them with their award.

The 12th annual Art Music Awards were hosted by Stéphanie Kabanyana Kanyandekwe, Emma Donovan and Aaron Wyatt. Live performances curated by musical director Barney McAll featured award winner Gian Slater andInvenio Singers; Helen Svoboda with Erik Griswold, Joseph O’Connor, Audrey Powne and Andrew Saragossi; violin and piano duo Andrew Haveron and Simon Tedeschi; Baroque recorder and harpsichord duo Hannah Coleman and Donald Nicolson; and Butchulla songman Fred Leone, with experimental contrabassist Samuel Pankhurst, Ritchie Daniell and Charlotte Jacke.

APRA AMCOS and the AMC congratulate all 2022 Art Music Awards winners on their outstanding achievements.

View the full list of winners