Sydney news

The Australian music industry last night celebrated the success of this year’s most outstanding Australian contemporary classical music achievements at the 2007 Classical Music Awards. The Awards were presented by APRA and the Australian Music Centre, at the Sydney Theatre, Walsh Bay.
 
Music entrepreneur, Belinda Webster was the recipient of the prestigious award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music. The award recognises Belinda’s enormous contribution to Australian music through her efforts recording and promoting the best of Australian composers and performers for more than 16 years. Her label, Tall Poppies, has commissioned almost 50 new works and produced almost 200 CDs. Belinda works closely with artists to produce results that are seen and heard throughout the world and, in 2007 she initiated the inaugural Kangaroo Valley Music Festival.
 
Roger Smalley picked up the prestigious Best Composition by an Australian Composer award for his string orchestral work, Birthday Tango. The work prompted a judge to comment that, “perhaps if Bartok had written a tango, it would have sounded like this”. This “intelligent, imaginative, unusual yet unpretentious” work was commissioned by Barbara Blackman to celebrate the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s 30th birthday.
 
Percussionist, Rebecca Lagos collected the Best Performance of an Australian Composition award for her performance of Nigel Westlake’s When The Clock Strikes Me performed with the Sydney Symphony conducted by Richard Gill and commissioned by Symphony Australia. This performance was described as magical in every way, with the judges noting the “virtuosic performance was radiant and incisive in its delivery”.
 
The Outstanding Contribution by an Organisation award went to the Aurora Festival of New Music - an inspiring cultural event staged in Western Sydney, that included music by more than 34 Australian and international composers with concerts, presentations and forums, an academic conference and national broadcasts. The Festival featured composers Terry Riley, Michael Daugherty and Stuart Greenbaum as a foundation for its celebration of contemporary music.
 
Percussionist Claire Edwardes, collected the Outstanding Contribution by an Individual award for her sustained commitment to Australian composition. Her Australian tour in 2006, with the Dutch group, Duo Vertigo, celebrated Dutch/Australian ties and exposed wider audiences to new works commissioned by composers from Australia and around the world. 
 
Inspirational artistic director and one of Australia’s best-known percussionists, Ian Cleworth was acknowledged for his lifetime of distinguished achievement and commitment to Australian music when he accepted the Long-Term Contribution to the Advancement of Australian Music award. Founder of Synergy Percussion and co-founder of TaikOz, Ian has been enormously influential in commissioning and presenting new Australian work for percussion ensemble and has lead these groups to enormous national and international followings. Ian spent nineteen years as principal percussionist with the Sydney Symphony and continues to makes guest appearances. His significant contribution as composer and inspired educationist has lead to the formation of a drumming school that encourages the next generation of players to perform Australian compositions.
 
The winners for the three prestigious Work of the Year awards (choral/vocal, orchestral, instrumental) were Sarah Hopkins, for her work May You Dance, recounting the tragic events in Childers in 2000, the work was written for and performed by the community of Childers; Liza Lim for Flying Banner (After Wang To) and; Ross Edwards for Piano Trio.
 
Hosted by ABC Classic FM’s, Julia Lester, eleven national and various state awards were presented by industry luminaries as Sue Nattrass, Carl Vine, Kathy Keele and Nicola Downer in front of 300 guests. Thousands of classical music fans across the country were able to enjoy direct coverage of the event, by tuning in to the live broadcast on ABC Classic FM.
 

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Judged by a panel of leading composers, performers, musicologists, educators and critics, APRA and the Australian Music Centre proudly announce the following national winners for the 2007 Classical Music Awards:
 
Instrumental Work of the Year*
Ross Edwards for Piano Trio
Performed by The Australian Trio
Published by Universal Music Publishing Group on behalf of G Ricordi & Co (London) Ltd
 
Orchestral Work of the Year*
Liza Lim for Flying Banner (After Wang To)
Performed by the Sydney Symphony; Conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti
Published by Universal Music Publishing Group on behalf of G Ricordi & Co (London) Ltd
 
Choral or Vocal Work of the Year*
Sarah Hopkins for May You Dance
Performed by The People of Childers
 
Best Performance of an Australian Composition
Rebecca Lagos (soloist) for her performance of When The Clock Strikes Me by Nigel Westlake with the Sydney Symphony
 
Best Composition by an Australian Composer
Roger Smalley for Birthday Tango
 
Outstanding Contribution to Australian Music in Education
Australian Youth Orchestra and the Australian Ballet for the 2006 National Music Camp Composition Program BodyTorque
 
Outstanding Contribution to Australian Music in a Regional Area
2006 Camden Haven Music Festival
 
Outstanding Contribution by an Individual
Claire Edwardes/Duo Vertigo for the Duyfken Project
 
Outstanding Contribution by an Organisation
2006 Aurora Festival of New Music
 
Long-Term Contribution to the Advancement of Australian Music
Ian Cleworth
 
Distinguished Services to Australian Music
Belinda Webster
 
The 2007 Classical Music Award State/Territory winners** are:
 
State Award for New South Wales
The inspiring and dedicated artistic director and performer, Ian Cleworth, for his superb long-term contribution to Australian music.
 
State Award for South Australia
Tristram Cary for his long-term contribution to Australian music. Tristram’s outstanding career as an innovator in electronic music, composer and educator, has profoundly influenced the development of electronic music in Britain, Australia and the USA. He has received numerous awards for his outstanding contributions, including the prestigious Prix Italia.
 
State Award for Victoria
Holland's Utrecht String Quartet performing Gordon Kerry Variations for String quartet for Musica Viva Australia tour in Melbourne.
 
State Award for Queensland
Queensland Youth Symphony performing Carl Vine’s Symphony No. 2. The QYO set itself a difficult challenge in choosing to perform this work, however the final performance was hailed as ‘amazing’ by the composer himself and was impressed by the incredible care taken with the music.
 
State Award Winner for Western Australia
Iain Grandage for his composition The Silence written for the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.  The work explores the theme of the loss of the parent, with brilliant use of musical quotations and parody; it captivated its intended young audience from beginning to end.
 
State Award for Tasmania
David Malone for his individual contribution though his work as a performer, artistic director and educator.
 
* Works of the Year categories were assessed by APRA on the basis of performance activities as registered with APRA throughout 2006.
** State/Territory Awards for ACT and NT were not awarded this year