Women composers and performers shine bright in 2024 Art Music Awards

Women composers and performers shone brightly in this year's Art Music Awards.

Held in Naarm/Melbourne last night, the awards recognise the achievements of composers and performers of contemporary classical music, jazz, improvisation, electronic sound arts and experimental practices.

Women composers swept the awards that celebrate the finest musical composition across several categories. These included first-time winner Kate Milligan through to established composer Mary Finsterer and respected conductor Lyn Williams.

Finsterer's Stabat Mater Symphony, which retells the biblical story of Mary standing vigil by her son Jesus during his crucifixion, received two awards, namely Work of the Year: Choral and Performance of the Year: Notated Composition.

Pianist and composer Sally Whitwell took home the award for Work of the Year: Dramatic for her meta-opera Margaret and the Grey Mare, which highlights issues of colonialist racism and misogyny in the contemporary classical music world.

Guzheng player Mindy Meng Wang and pianist Paul Grabowsky took home the Performance of the Year award for their concert Spring, Flower, Snow and the Moon, which mingled Asian and Western influences.

Respected choral conductor Lyn Williams received the Richard Gill award for distinguished services to Australian music. 

The award, named after the late music educator, recognises Williams's decades-long commitment to the development of Australian choral music through the Gondwana Choirs, and to amplifying voices throughout her career, notably the Indigenous women's choir Marliya.

The evening was hosted by ABC Classic presenter Stéphanie Kabanyana Kanyandekwe, with guest presenters Benjamin Northey and Miranda Hill.

Winners and finalists 

• Winner: Mary Finsterer: Stabat Mater – Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Choir of Trinity College Melbourne, Mia Robinson, Joseph Nolan, Mel Gibson (narrator), Benjamin Northey (conductor) and Christopher Watson (choral director)
• Juliana Kay with Bridget Bourne: Earth Shaped Hearts – Alta Collective and Bridget Bourne
• John Rotar: Passio – One Equal Music and The Australian Voices (TAV)
• Joe Twist: Winchester Canticles – Winchester Cathedral Combined Choir

• Winner: Sally Whitwell: Margaret and the Grey Mare – Margaret Plummer, Michael Honeyman, Katy B Plummer, Sarah Jessica Carpark, Freya Schack-Arnott, Sally Whitwell, Kuba Dorabialski (cinematographer)
• Jack Frerer: Standard Deviation – New York City Ballet
• Mark Atkins, Andrew Daylight, Aviva Endean, Chris Griffiths, Preben Ningarmarra, Tristen Parr and Vanessa Tomlinson: The Journey Down
• Zoë Barry: The Nervous Atmosphere: A Chamber Made work

• Winner: Cheryl Durongpisitkul: A Pinky Promise – Monash Art Ensemble
• Linda May Han Oh: Ephemeral Echoes – Linda May Han Oh, Fabian Almazan, Lucy Birkinshaw, Steve Richter, Iain Robbie, Ben Vanderwal, and Genevieve Wilkins
• Aviva Endean, Sunny Kim, Peter Knight, Daniel Wilfred, and David Wilfred: Mokuy – Hand to Earth
• Helen Svoboda: The Odd River

• Winner: Alice Chance: Through Changing Landscape – Sydney Symphony Orchestra, David Robertson-conductor
• Lisa Illean: arcing, stilling, bending, gathering – Aura Go, Emma McGrath, Tilman Robinson, and musicians of the Australian National Academy of Music 
• Brenton Broadstock: Prayers and Tribulations – New York Staff Band
• Elena Kats-Chernin: Sarenka Concerto – Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Dale Barltrop, Rachael Tobin, and Chloé van Soeterstède (conductor) 

• Winner: Kate Milligan: Visions | Vestiges – London Symphony Orchestra
• Elliott Gyger: Ablaze – Carla Blackwood, Miranda Hill, Ben Opie and Melina Van Leeuwen
• Holly Harrison: Daredevil – Omega Ensemble
• Maria Grenfell: Silhouettes for String Quartet – Flinders Quartet

• Winner: Genevieve Lacey: Breathing Space – Dr Lou Bennett, Mindy Meng Wang, Vahideh Eisaei, Amadou Suso, Sunny Kim, The Consort of Melbourne, Linda Kent, Marshall McGuire, Phil Slater, Speak Percussion, Erkki Veltheim, Simon Martyn-Ellis, with spoken voices and field recordings
• Olivia Davies and Callum G'Froerer: Gradient – Olivia Davies, Callum G'Froerer, and Nick Roux
• Ben Carey: METASTABILITY
• Yunyu Ong: When The Rain God Sings Storm Lions Are Born –Taikoz

• Winner: Mindy Meng Wang and Paul Grabowsky: Spring, Flower, Snow and the Moon ????*
• Mark Atkins, Andrew Daylight, Aviva Endean, Chris Griffiths, Preben Ningarmarra, Tristen Parr, and Vanessa Tomlinson: The Journey Down*
• Cheryl Durongpisitkul and ensemble: I Still Miss You*
• Hand to Earth: The Crow –Aviva Endean, Sunny Kim, Peter Knight, Daniel Wilfred, and David Wilfred

*Composed and performed by the same artists

• Winner: Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Choir of Trinity College Melbourne, Mia Robinson, Joseph Nolan, Mel Gibson (narrator), Benjamin Northey (conductor), and Christopher Watson (choral director): Stabat Mater – composed by Mary Finsterer
• Claire Edwardes and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra: Dare To Declare (Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra) – composed by Anne Cawrse
• Jane Kircher-Lindner, West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Asher Fisch (conductor): Bassoon Concerto – composed by Andrew Schultz
• West Australian Symphony Orchestra, WASO Chorus, Aquinas College Schola Cantorum, Voyces, Abimanjou Mathivannan, and Eduardo Strausser (conductor): The Tides of Longing – composed by Lachlan Skipworth and Jay Emmanuel

Excellence Awards

Three projects that champion cross-cultural collaboration and artistic practice in contemporary Australian art music received excellence awards this year.

Victorian organisation The Song Room received the Excellence in Music Education award for their work in partnership with local schools in remote Northern Territory.

WA-based organisation Tura was awarded Excellence in a Regional Area for The Journey Down, a community-driven work that toured across more than 3,000km of regional Western Australia.

Excellence in Experimental Practice was awarded to Gelareh Pour and Brian O'Dwyer for their project ZÖJ, a voice and percussion duo blending traditional Persian elements with contemporary Australian sounds.

Luminary Awards

The annual Luminary Awards are presented to those who make a sustained impact on musical communities through their leadership, artistic practice and the championing of Australian repertoire.

The Omega Ensemble earned the Luminary Award: National Organisation for its dedication to championing emerging and diverse voices and the commissioning of new Australian works.

Recorder virtuoso and arts advocate Genevieve Lacey was awarded the Luminary Award: National Individual for her broad collaborative relationships, including the mentoring of young artists, championing diversity within Australian art music, and leading through her own artistic practice.

The following Luminary Awards were also presented to individuals and organisations who have made significant contributions to the music community in their local state or territory.

• Jessica Cottis (ACT)
• Jessica Wells (NSW)
• Camerata – Queensland's Chamber Orchestra (QLD)
• The Bowerbird Collective (SA)
• Don Kay (TAS) 
• Duré Dara (VIC)
• Gemma Farrell (WA)

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