We are proud to congratulate many ANAM alumni, and long-time ANAM collaborators and artists who were awarded at the 2026 APRA AMCOS and AMC Art Music Awards last night (19 August), held at Melbourne's Timber Yards. Aside from those awarded gongs last night, we are proud that so many of ANAM's alumni were nominated in almost every category - a testament to their leadership in the sector championing new Australian music.
Major Awards
The National Luminary Award for an individual went to Daryl Buckley, Artistic Director of ELISION Ensemble which celebrated its 40th Anniversary this year. A champion of Australian contemporary performance, Daryl has pioneered the recognition of Australian artists and new music on the international stage for many years. Another founding member of ELISION, composer and educator Liza Lim AM won the Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music, in recognition of her extraordinary contribution to Australian art music. We are thrilled to be working with Daryl, Liza and members of ELISION for two performances next month, in what is the conclusion of three-year partnership working with our ANAM musicians on advanced cutting-edge music.
For the State Luminary Awards, the award for Queensland went to Alex Raineri (piano 2015), for his work as an extraordinary musician, director and creator, and for fostering performance, collaboration and new creative opportunities through the Brisbane Music Festival, which he founded in 2017. In its nine years, the Brisbane Music Festival has presented the world premieres of over 80 new works by Australian and international composers, proudly giving voice to under-represented works across many genres, including contemporary, classical, experimental, First Nations, electronic, pop, as well as film, dance, theatre and visual art.
Alex Raineri, photo credit: Peter Godfrey-Smith
The award for Tasmania went to early music specialists Van Diemen's Band, for their new immersive program Sirens which premiered in 2025 by Van Diemen's Fiddles, a quartet of musicians including Emily Sheppard (violin 2013) and Katie Yap (viola 2014). The performances included world premieres written by both alumni. More generally, the ensemble was also recognised for delivering world-class music to regional and remote communities, commissioning new works alongside Baroque and early music masterpieces, and building deep trust with their audiences.
Works and Performances of the Year
In the Work of the Year and Performance of the Year categories, ANAM alumni were represented as performers in seven out of the ten awards -
Work of the Year (Dramatic)
Opera for the Dead 祭歌 by Mindy Meng Wang and Monica Lim
Performed by Mindy Meng Wang, Monica Lim, Yu-Tien Lin, Nils Hobiger (cello 2016) and Alexander Meagher (percussion 2021) at the OzAsia Festival in Adelaide, and Sydney Festival earlier this year.
Work of the Year (Medium Ensemble)
BloodRiverRootTree by Noemi Liba Friedman
Performed by Meg Cohen (violin 2021), Phoebe Green, Alex McDonald (viola 2018), Roseanne Hunt, Peter Neville (faculty), Hamish Gould, Sarvenaz Monfaredi, Justine Anderson (fellow 2015), Shelby MacCrae (bassoon), Sophie Deka and Jakob Bragg (conductor), in a site-specific presentation last September at Melbourne's Norla Dome, with Yehonatan Koenig from Motion Art Direction.
Work of the Year (Solo and Small Ensemble)
Killing the Angel in the House by Anne Cawrse
Performed by Eliza Shephard (flute 2018, pictured above with her award), this work was commissioned by Eliza for her multi-year project March of the Women, which celebrates female composers with recordings and performances of works for solo flute and flute with chamber ensemble. Eliza performed this work on multiple occasions last year, including at the 2025 Australian Flute Festival where she was a juror. Eliza is currently an ANAM Ian Potter Emerging Performers Fellow (2025-26) and regular guest faculty at ANAM.
Work of the Year (Electroacoustic / Sound Art)
Dark Oceanography by Kate Milligan, with Music Technologist Aaron Wyatt and Oceanographer Navid Constantinou
Performed by The Sound Collectors Lab, which includes Artistic Director Louise Devenish (percussion 2003), Niki Johnson and Sofia Carbonara. Louise presented a compelling and inspiring Day One address to our musicians in 2025, and will return this November as curator and performer to lead the opening concert of ANAM's Chamber Music Festival: A Matter of the World | Poetry of Knowledge.
Louise Devenish performing Dark Oceanography, July 2025. Photo credit: Darren Gill
Work of the Year (Choral)
Mahāsāgar by Paul Stanhope, with text by Rhys Halkidis, Steve Hawke, Michael Leunig, Cass Lynch, Alexander Maloof and Elizabeth Riddell
Performed by the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and Chorus with Sara Macliver (soprano), Andrew Goodwin (tenor), and Asher Fisch (conductor)
Performance of the Year (Jazz)
The Cloud Maker
Composed and performed by Aviva Endean, Te Kahureremoa Taumata, Sunny Kim, Maria Moles and Freya Schack-Arnott (cello 2006), released on Skinnyfish Records last year.
Performance of the Year (Classical and Experimental)
nyilamum song cycles by Dr Lou Bennett AM and Paul Stanhope
Performed by Dr Lou Bennett AM and the Australian String Quartet - Dale Barltrop (ANAM Board), Francesca Hiew (violin 2011), Christopher Cartlidge (viola 2010) and Michael Dahlenburg (cello 2010) - and premiered at the Adelaide Festival last year.
ANAM congratulates all winners and nominees from this year's Art Music Awards, and continues our commitment to championing Australian works as a vital part of our musicians' training.
Words by Laura Panther, Alumni Manager