Acclaimed jazz pianist and composer Tom O’Halloran has received the Jazz Work of the Year award for ‘Now Noise’, an album composed for his group Memory of Elements (Moe), at the 2017 Art Music Awards last night. The Award for Excellence in Jazz has gone to Andrea Keller for the creation, presentation and release of contemporary jazz in 2016. A recent recipient of an APRA Professional Development Award, and a previous Art Music Award winner, Keller has been described as “one of Australia’s most consistently interesting musical minds”.
Keller and O’ Halloran were part of an exciting group of composers, performers and educators, including several first-time recipients, who were among the winners of the 2017 Art Music Awards. Together they represent the most outstanding contributions of 2016 across the genres of contemporary art music, contemporary jazz and experimental music.
The Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music (as determined by the APRA Board of Writer and Publisher Directors) was presented to the legendary John Pochee OAM for his influential and visionary work as a jazz drummer and bandleader.
Sydney Improvised Music Association (SIMA) also won the NSW Award for Excellence in Music Education, for the widely acclaimed Young Women’s Jazz Workshop program, while Daniel Susnjar was the recipient of the WA Award for Jazz Work Of The Year.
The winners across 11 national categories and eight state / territory categories were honoured at an industry celebration at the City Recital Hall in Sydney on Tuesday evening. Now in its 7th year, the Art Music Awards is the only national event in Australia to acknowledge the extraordinary achievements and creative successes of those who excel in these genres.
The 2017 Art Music Awards were staged jointly by APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre (AMC). The event was hosted by Simon Marnie, with musical performances curated by Gabriella Smart. Presenters at the event were Sandy Evans, Paul Mason, Stephen Lias, Natalie Williams and Marshall McGuire.
Finalist Paul Stanhope conducted the Sydney Chamber Choir with Adelaide Chamber Singers soloist Karina Jay, in a performance of his work ‘Agnus Dei’ (‘Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep’). Tristen Parr (cello) performed finalist Cat Hope’s ‘Shadow of Mill’ (1st movement), while harpist Marshall McGuire performed dual finalist Liza Lim’s work ‘Rug Music’. Jazz winner Andrea Keller teamed up with Gian Slater and Shannon Barnett to perform Keller’s ‘Darest Thou Now O Soul’.
The legendary jazz ensemble Ten Part Invention performed to honour Distinguished Services to Australian Music recipient John Pochee OAM. The Narli Ensemble featuring Mark Atkins (didjeridu), Stephen Pigram (voice and guitar), Erkki Veltheim (violin), Stephen Magnusson (guitar), Tristen Parr (cello) and finalist Tos Mahoney on flute performed a collage from Tura’s Kimberley Touring Program, sharing their stories of country, history and passion through music.
The Art Music Awards also paid tribute to those members of our music community who passed away since last meeting, in honouring Patrick Thomas (1932 2017), Tomasz Spiewak (1936 -2017), Robert Allworth (1943 – 2017), Dr Allan Zavod OAM (1945 – 2016), Richard Divall AO OBE (1945 – 2017), Richard Toop (1945 – 2017), Irene Hendricks (1952 2017), Janet Seidel (1955 – 2017), Graham Wood (1971 – 2017) and James Wade (1979 – 2017).
APRA AMCOS and the AMC congratulate all the 2017 Art Music Awards winners on their outstanding achievements.
The complete list of winners
Distinguished Services to Australian Music: John Pochee OAM
Orchestral Work of the Year
Title: Serenade for Tenor, Saxophone and Orchestra (My Dear Benjamin)
Composer: Lyle Chan
Text: Benjamin Britten and Wulff Scherchen
Performer: Andrew Goodwin tenor, Michael Duke saxophone, Queensland Symphony Orchestra and Paul Kildea conductor
Performance of the Year
Performer: Peter de Jager
Title: Piano Sonata
Composer: Chris Dench
Vocal/Choral Work of the Year
Title: Tree of Codes
Composer: Liza Lim
Performer: Ensemble MusikFabrik; Cologne Opera, Clement Power conductor, Massimo Furlan director
Jazz Work of the Year
Title:Now Noise
Composer: Tom O’Halloran
Performer: Memory of Elements
Instrumental Work of the Year
Title: How Forests Think
Composer: Liza Lim
Performer: ELISION, Wu Wei soloist, Carl Rosman conductor
Award for Excellence by an Organisation
Speak Percussion for their 2016 program and sustained contribution to Australian music
Award for Excellence by an Individual
Daryl Buckley for over thirty years of contribution to the international projection of Australian contemporary performance, ideas and practice
Award for Excellence in Music Education
Moorambilla Voices for their 2016 season
Award for Excellence in a Regional Area
Tura New Music for their 2016 Regional Program
Award for Excellence in Experimental Music
Clocked Out with Bruce and Jocelyn Wolfe for The Piano Mill Project
Award for Excellence in Jazz
Andrea Keller for the creation, presentation and release of contemporary jazz in 2016
2017 ART MUSIC AWARDS STATE and TERRITORY AWARDS
ACT Award for Instrumental Work of the Year
‘The 7 Great Inventions Of The Modern Industrial Age’ by Sally Greenaway
NSW Award for Excellence in Music Education
Sydney Improvised Music Association (SIMA) for Young Women’s Jazz Workshop program
NT Award for Excellence in a Regional Area
Ngarukuruwala for ‘Ngiya Awungarra’ (‘I Am Here, Now’)
QLD Award for Excellence by an Individual
Vanessa Tomlinson for conceiving and curating the 2016 Australian Percussion Gathering
SA Award for Performance of the Year
Adelaide Chamber Singers for ‘Agnus Dei’ (‘Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep’) by Paul Stanhope
TAS Award for Excellence by an Organisation
Mona for Mofo 2016
VIC Award for Performance of the Year
Chamber Made Opera for ‘Permission To Speak’ by Kate Neal
WA Award for Jazz Work Of The Year
‘Help You Along Your Way’ by Daniel Susnjar
