Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Image: Liza Lim  

Internationally acclaimed Australian composer, educator and researcher, Professor Liza Lim AM, will be honoured with the prestigious Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music at the 2026 Art Music Awards on Wednesday 19 August in Melbourne.

Lim's music is revered worldwide for its exploration of ritual, ecology and our relationship with the more-than-human world. Widely commissioned by leading orchestras and ensembles globally, her compositional output spans chamber music, orchestral works and five operas including her large-scale cycle Extinction Events and Dawn Chorus, which has resonated across the globe for its urgent call to ecological listening.

In 2019 she was given the prestigious position of the inaugural Sculthorpe Chair of Australian Music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and was the first musician to receive an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship (2025-29) to lead a five-year program addressing urgent climate and social issues through music. Her gender equity initiatives, including the award-winning Composing Women program, have had far-reaching impact on commissioning, performance and leadership in Australian music, earning her the National Luminary Award at the 2022 Art Music Awards.

Additional honours include being appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2023 and receiving the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition in 2026 for her cello concerto A Sutured World, further cementing her reputation as one of the leading voices in contemporary music.

On receiving this latest honour, Lim says: "I am deeply honoured to receive this award. Music and the arts can be sources of joy, as well as acts of resilience and resistance. Too often, the arts are valued mainly for their practical or economic benefits, rather than as a vital expression of human freedom and creativity. Richard Gill believed passionately in that freedom, and I am honoured to play a small part in carrying his vision forward."

The recipients of the 2026 State and Territory Luminary Awards have also been announced, recognising artists and organisations whose vision, leadership and commitment continue to shape the future of Australian music across the country.

This year's winners include Alex Raineri for his work as a musician, director and creator with the Brisbane Music Festival; NSW's People's Republic for significant contributions as a venue, promoter and studio for new and experimental music; and the late Michael Sollis, who is being honoured posthumously for his incredible work as an artistic leader, community facilitator, composer and educator in the ACT.

On being named the Victorian State Luminary Award winner, Tamara Saulwick - Artistic Director and CEO of Chamber Made, says: "Chamber Made is honoured to receive the Victorian State Luminary Award. This is testament to four decades of championing new work, and the company's ability to adapt and reimagine the role we can play in the arts landscape. It honours every artist we've worked with, their appetite for risk and for work that speaks to the complexity of our times, as much as the many partners, supporters and audiences whose contributions help us remain vital."

The remaining Art Music Awards will be revealed during the ceremony on 19 August. Acclaimed artist Sia Ahmad has curated a showcase of performances for the evening featuring violinist, vocalist, dancer and composer Eric Avery with Flinders Quartet; pianist Sonya Lifschitz; Western and Carnatic violinist Bhairavi Raman with mridangam player and percussionist Nanthesh Sivarajah; genre-defying collaborators David Moran, Maryam Rahmani and Sebastian Collen; and Reuben Lewis's I Hold the Lions Paw with vocalist Michelle Nicolle and choir.

Presented by APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre (AMC) the Art Music Awards celebrate the national art music community, recognising excellence among creators, performers and community leaders working across contemporary classical music, jazz, improvised music, sound art and experimental practice.

2026 Art Music Award State and Territory Luminary Award Winners:

ACT - Michael Sollis for work as an artistic leader, community facilitator, composer and educator.

NSW - People's Republic for significant contributions as a venue, promoter and studio for new and experimental music.

SA - Melanie Walters for work as Principal Flute of Adelaide Wind Orchestra, Artistic Director of Coruscalia Collective and champion of new music in South Australia.

VIC - Chamber Made for shaping Australian music and performance for more than 35 years through ambitious, internationally engaged productions, and investment in composers, sound artists, and performance makers.

TAS - Van Diemen's Band for Sirens program.

QLD - Alex Raineri for work as an extraordinary musician, director, creator, and providing performance and creation opportunities within the Brisbane Music Festival.

WA - Hannah Lee Tungate for Tenth Muse Initiative and Women Composers Project.

2026 ART MUSIC AWARDS

5.30pm, Wednesday 19 August 2026

The Timber Yard, 351 Plummer St, Port Melbourne, VIC

Hosted by Namila Benson with guest presenters Aura Go and Connor D'Netto, with music curation by Sia Ahmad