2026 Art Music Awards finalists announced
Finalists for 15 award categories have been revealed ahead of this year’s event on Wednesday 19 August
Aviva Endean and Mindy Meng Wang lead a standout field with three nominations each
The remaining honours, including the Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music and the State Luminary Awards will be announced in August
APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre (AMC) have announced the finalists for the 2026 Art Music Awards, celebrating the creators, performers and organisations shaping Australia’s vibrant art music landscape.
Finalists for 15 award categories have been revealed ahead of this year’s event on Wednesday 19 August at The Timber Yard, Melbourne, spanning categories including composition, performance, music education, sound art and experimental practice.
Selected from a highly competitive pool of nominations submitted by peers and audiences, this year's finalists reflect the remarkable breadth, innovation and excellence of Australian art music.
Co-leading this year’s finalists is acclaimed performer, composer and sound artist Aviva Endean, who has secured three nods. She is recognised twice in the Performance of the Year: Jazz & Improvised Music category for Lung Swara with Cahwatie Sugiarto and Matthias Schack-Arnott, and for The Cloud Maker with Freya Schack-Arnott, Jasmin Win-Ying Leung, Maria Moles, Sunny Kim and Te Kahreremoa Taumata. The Cloud Maker is also a finalist for Work of the Year: Jazz & Improvised Music.
Chinese-Australian composer and performer, Mindy Meng Wang, has also earned her place as a finalist for three awards – Award for Excellence in Experimental Practice and Performance of the Year: Soloist for her performance of Concerto for Guzheng and Orchestra with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO). Wang and Monica Lim's Opera for the Dead is also a finalist in Work of the Year: Dramatic.
Composer Damian Barbeler’s time-and-space-bending live cinematic concert collaboration, Duet for One performed by Sonya Lifschitz, has also been named a finalist in both Work of the Year: Solo & Small Ensemble and Performance of the Year: Soloist.
Kate Milligan, winner of the 2025 Work of the Year: Electroacoustic/Sound Art award, returns as a finalist in the category with Dark Oceanography, collaboratively developed by a team of artistic and scientific researchers including Aaron Wyatt, Louise Devenish and Navid Constantinou.
Reflecting the strength and depth of this year's nominations, finalists have also been announced early for the Luminary Award National Individual and National Organisation categories, including Assoc. Prof. Dr Jeanell Carrigan, Daryl Buckley and Musica Viva Australia for their demonstrated sustained contribution to Australian art music.
The remaining honours, including the Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music and the State Luminary Awards, will be announced in August.
The Art Music Awards is an annual celebration of the national art music community, recognising excellence among creators, performers and community leaders in contemporary classical music, jazz, improvised music, sound art and experimental practices.
Click here to see the full list of finalists.
2026 ART MUSIC AWARDS
5.30pm, Wednesday 19 August
The Timber Yard
351 Plummer St, Port Melbourne, VIC
Hosted by Namila Benson with guest presenters Auro Go and Connor D’Netto, with music curation by Sia Ahmad
