NOMINATION: Performance of the Year - Jazz / Improvised Music
For the performance of a single Australian work, showcasing the performer(s)’ success in improvisatory creation or collaboration. This may entail entirely improvised work or significant improvisatory input such as solo passages.
A work is defined as a single complete musical composition, or expression. This includes music with movements or sub-works (i.e. song cycles), installations, and real-time compositions (improvised music).
If you believe your performance to be nominated in the wrong category or the details of your nomination to be incorrect, please contact the AMC via email at awards@australianmusiccentre.com.au before proceeding with the nomination.
Art Music Award guidelines →
Nominee
BELIEVE and Sonya Holowell
Nominee email
sholowell@gmail.com
Title of the work
BELIEVE and Sonya Holowell
Composer(s) of the work
Laurence Pike, Clayton Thomas, Novak Manojlovic, Peter Farrar, Sonya Holowell
Performance Date
12/9/2024
Venue
Phoenix Central Park
Nominator Statement
Believe's collaboration with vocal improviser Sonya Holowell at the third Strata Festival held at Phoenix Central Park in September 2024 was the most outstanding improvised performance I heard in 2024.
As a band, Believe (featuring Novak Manojlovic, Laurence Pike, Clayton Thomas and Peter Farrar) have been relentlessly pursuing meaningful, dynamic and resonant group improvising in Sydney over the last 2 years across regular concerts, inspiring local audiences and practitioners alike, and creating an energetic catalyst within the community.
This first time meeting at Phoenix Central Park with First Nations improviser Sonya Holowell possessed all of the hallmarks of improvisation at its highest level; intensity of listening, virtuosity, interplay, a humility for the language of the art form, a willingness to take risks, unity of purpose, and a sense of universal possibilities being revealed to the audience in the process. It was also highly unique as a combination of vocalisation placed within the context of an instrumental ensemble of a jazz nature.
Despite all five musicians being highly accomplished performers and composers in their own right, it should be said that the music created on this evening truly transcended the sum of its parts in a unified and deeply human experience for all in attendance. Australian improvisation of the highest calibre, and a truly remarkable performance.
Nominee
BELIEVE and Sonya Holowell
Nominee email
sholowell@gmail.com
Title of the work
BELIEVE and Sonya Holowell
Composer(s) of the work
Laurence Pike, Clayton Thomas, Novak Manojlovic, Peter Farrar, Sonya Holowell
Performance Date
12/9/2024
Venue
Phoenix Central Park
As a band, Believe (featuring Novak Manojlovic, Laurence Pike, Clayton Thomas and Peter Farrar) have been relentlessly pursuing meaningful, dynamic and resonant group improvising in Sydney over the last 2 years across regular concerts, inspiring local audiences and practitioners alike, and creating an energetic catalyst within the community.
This first time meeting at Phoenix Central Park with First Nations improviser Sonya Holowell possessed all of the hallmarks of improvisation at its highest level; intensity of listening, virtuosity, interplay, a humility for the language of the art form, a willingness to take risks, unity of purpose, and a sense of universal possibilities being revealed to the audience in the process. It was also highly unique as a combination of vocalisation placed within the context of an instrumental ensemble of a jazz nature.
Despite all five musicians being highly accomplished performers and composers in their own right, it should be said that the music created on this evening truly transcended the sum of its parts in a unified and deeply human experience for all in attendance. Australian improvisation of the highest calibre, and a truly remarkable performance.