Organised by APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre (AMC), they cover contemporary classical, jazz and experimental music.
Improvising jazz pianist Marc Hannaford took out the Work of the Year: Jazz category with his highly original composition Anda Two. Members of the Australian Art Orchestra and India’s Sruthi Laya Ensemble (India) took Performance of the Year for their work on Sandy Evans’s Meetings at the Table of Time which combined Western jazz and Eastern Carnatic music.
Gordon Kerry, who lives in country Victoria, was recognized in Work of the Year: Instrumental for his String Quintet. Fire Music by composer Brett Dean – inspired by the raging bushfires of Victoria in February 2009 – won Work of the Year: Orchestral.
When writing the piece, Dean learned about the science of fires. He corresponded with Dick Williams, a scientist from the national science research institute, CSIRO. Dean says that as a result, he could capture the “sound” of fire better. The guitar solo midway through the piece, for instance, reflects the dizzying heat that victims and survivors would have felt. The piece was also performed by the Australian Ballet.
