Australian Music in the 2010s
There are countless ways to start exploring our extensive website. This brief overview presents two different perspectives on some significant works and people in the Australian music scene in the 2010s.The first looks at Australian experimental music and the second discusses Australian notated music during this period.
Australian Composition in the 2010s
Significant Works
| Work | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| Semaphore by Kate Neal and Karen Berger | Winner of Instrumental Work of the Year, 2016 Art Music Awards. 'An intriguing multimedia exploration of signalling, communication and miscommunication.' | |
| Earth plays I-IV (2015) by Cathy Milliken | Winner of Orchestral Worlk of the Year, 2016 Art Music Awards. 'Ambitious, unpredictable and engaging, this piece is at once deep, personal and substantial.' |
| Cantor (2017) by Lisa Illean | Winner of Vocal/Choral Work of the Year, 2018 Art Music Awards. 'The work shows extraordinary sensitivity to colour and timbre and creates an absorbing sound-world which lingers after listening.' | |
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| Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra (2017) by Paul Stanhope | Winner of Orchestral Work of the Year, 2018 Art Music Awards. 'A major concerto, with depth, outstanding technique and strong melodic sense.' |
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| Sextet : 'Old kings in exile' (2010) by Brett Dean | Winner of 'Work of the year - instrumental', 2012 Art Music Awards, Judges' comments:'a highly polished and effective work, seamless and constantly engaging without losing its sense of tension and direction'. |
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| Missa Solis - Requiem for Eli (2010) by Nigel Westlake | Winner of 'Work of the year - orchestral', 2012 Art Music Awards and the 2013 Paul Lowin Orchestral Prize. A celebration of the life of composer's son Eli Weslake, whose life was taken some weeks before his 22nd birthday. Judges' comments: 'a very professional, polished and well orchestrated piece with beautiful writing for solo voices'. |
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| String quintet (2012) by Gordon Kerry | Winner of 'Work of the year - instrumental', 2013 Art Music Awards. Judges' comments: 'an exceptionally well-crafted work, deeply informed by tradition and showing the composer's sympathetic understanding of string instruments'. |
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| Fire music (2011) by Brett Dean | Winner of 'Work of the year - orchestral', 2013 Art Music Awards. Judging panel commented on the work's 'outstanding, complex orchestration, its emotional intensity and its palpable sense of theatricality'. |
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| Affectations (2011) by Andrea Keller | Winner of 'Work of the year - jazz', 2012 Art Music Awards. Judges' comments: 'a wonderful example of the composer's complete understanding of, but not being restricted by, the jazz idiom. Affectations throws off the shackles and is unpredictable. It has a great sense of exploration which keeps the listener curious and looking for more.' |
| Songs of our journey (2012) by Stephen Leek | Winner of 'Work of the year - vocal/choral', 2013 Art Music Awards. Judges commended the composer's ability to take the individual stories, brought to the project by the participants from Sydney Children's Choir, and turn these into a well-crafted and exceptional piece celebrating the voice. | |
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| Golden years (2013) by James Ledger | Winner of 'Work of the year - orchestral', 2014 Art Music Awards. Judges praised the work's inventive structure, instrumental colours and the composer's impressive writing for orchestra as well as for solo violin. |
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| Last words (2013) by Andrew Ford | Winner of 'Work of the year - vocal/choral', 2014 Art Music Awards. The work utilises last poems and deathbed utterances by writers and historical figures to create a beautiful and moving piece. |
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| Aerea (2013) by Mary Finsterer | Winner of 'Work of the year - instrumental', 2014 Art Music Awards. A large-scale piece, commissioned by the Monash Art Ensemble and acclaimed by the judges as being ambitious and highly engaging. |
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| giving voice (2012) by Elliott Gyger | Winner of the 2013 Paul Lowin Song Cycle Prize. A song cycle to texts by Australian female poets, dealing with early childhood and parenthood. |
| Concerto for clarinet and orchestra (2014) by Lachlan Skipworth | Winner of the 2016 Paul Lowin Orchestral Prize. According to the jury: 'Highly accomplished, evocative work with virtuosic writing for the clarinet... An idiosyncratic work with the very individual voice of the composer coming through.' | |
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| String quartet No. 2 (2013) by Brett Dean | Winner of the 2016 Paul Lowin Song Cycle Prize. Jury commented, 'A compelling and exciting work, it pins the listener to the wall from the outset with its extraordinary high tessitura, virtuosic vocal line and demanding string writing.' |
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| Dramatis personae (2013) by Brett Dean | Winner of Orchestral Work of the Year, 2015 Art Music Awards. 'This imaginative masterpiece grips the listener's attention throughout.' |
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| Ignis by Mary Finsterer | Winner, Instrumental Work of the Year, 2019 Art Music Awards. |
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| Tree of Codes : cut-outs in time (2015) by Liza Lim | Winner of Vocal/Choral Work of the Year, 2017 Art Music Awards. 'A true Gesamtkunstwerk. Every element is rendered with tremendous care; electronics are integrated very finely into the work; the role of birdsong is particularly striking.' |
| Anda Two by Mark Hannaford | Winner of 'Work of the Year - jazz', 2013 Art Music Awards. Judges comments: 'highly original and fundamentally different from most Australian jazz works today'. http://www.marchannaford.com/home |