Sonya Lifschitz - Performance, commissioning, education and artistic research.

NOMINATION: Luminary - State and Territory

Nominator Statement

Sonya is an artist, performer, collaborator and educator with 20 years experience at the forefront of classical/art music. Her deep commitment to art musics sustainability and relevance within contemporary culture has led to an inclusive and diverse artistic practice, championing new Australian music, fostering younger generations of emerging artists, and pursuing cutting-edge research into intermedial composition practices across artistic disciplines. Sonya has collaborated with Australias foremost composers, music ensembles and theatre, dance, spoken word, visual and screen-based artists to create work that positions art music at the cutting edge of contemporary performance practices, exploring boundaries of musical expression and interdisciplinary artistic process. Her projects challenge and diversify traditional formats and approaches to art music curation, including works like Stalins Piano (2017-2021), which weaves live piano, video and live speech to ritualise key moments in modern history, juxtaposing roles and ideals of artists and politicians in contemporary culture; a triptych of works in collaboration with performance artist Christine Johnston: Crumbs Lyre (2020-2025), Above/Below(2020-2024), Cosmic Mechanics, exploring concert as theatre; Assembly - a collaboration with video-artist Angelica Mesiti which represented Australia at the 58th Venice Biennale, and 'So Much Myself: Piano Portraits' (2023-2025) for piano, video, narrative and recorded speech, which weaves an interconnected tapestry of stories of extraordinary women spanning a millennium. Her most current collaboration with composer Damian Barbeler and media artist Tim Gruchy, 'Duet for One (2024-2025) is an immersive cinematic concert experience in which she performs live against the footage of herself performing in remote and enigmatic landscapes throughout Australia, which will be premiered at the Canberra International Music Festival this year, is a testament to Sonya's commitment to innovative, bold and trailblazing work and leadership in the field of contemporary art music, reshaping the conversation around contemporary art music practices and modelling ways in which new music can play a vital role within the broader contemporary cultural milieu. Sonyas collaboration with the Sydney Dance Company during the Sydney lockdowns, YEARS (2021) reimagining Bachs iconic Goldberg Variations was one of the most striking online projects to emerge from the pandemic years. Sonyas track record as an exceptional artist and creative performer is evidenced by the calibre of venues and festivals that have championed her work, including all major international arts festivals in Australia, and venues such the Barbican Centre (London), De Doelen (Rotterdam), Bargemusic (New York), Detroit Institute of Art (USA), Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (Canada), the National Gallery of Australia and Art Gallery of NSW. Sonyas work has been featured on ABC Classics Legends, Duet, Festival of Female Composers, New Waves and Radio Nationals Music Show. As a leading music educator, Sonya heads the Music Creative Practice program at University of NSW and directs a trailblazing student ensemble, the New Music Collective, dedicated to experimental music of 21st century.