Nowthat Brainspawn has closed shop, Cantabile Performer is the most popular live performance app for PC users. With Cantabile Performer, you can perform with VST plugins, switch between songs, set up custom keyboard splits, trigger audio and MIDI clips, record your performances, and more.
Gig Performer is priced at $149, and a macoS and Windows bundle is available for $199. I think the no frills pricing structure of Gig Performer makes it a more attractive offering. Practically speaking, it has all the necessary features for live performers, and comes in at $50 cheaper than Cantabile Performer Pro.
Each year, the judging process for the Art Music Awards relies on countless hours of work by dedicated volunteers. This year, the AMC and APRA AMCOS would like to thank the following people for their time in judging the nominations: Diana Blom, Vanessa Chalker, Harriet Cunningham, Carl Crossin, David Forrest, Tony Gould, Maria Grenfell, Elliott Gyger, Michael Hooper, Cat Hope, Linda Kouvaras, James Ledger, Stephen Leek, Alex Masso, Tim Matthies, Ros McMillan, Kate Neal, James Nightingale, Victoria Owens, Jo Parkes, Sarah Penicka-Smith, Ben Northey, John Shand, Nick Shimmin, Gian Slater, Jula Szuster, Liz Terracini, Julie Warn, Nigel Westlake, Peta Williams, Toby Wren, Jonathan Zwartz. A special thank you goes to Siobhan Lenihan for chairing the Awards panels.
Summary: The finalists emerged from a strong field with myriad styles and approaches, ranging from works offering an accessible and satisfying experience for community-based performers to those requiring the highest calibre of professional forces.
Stephen Adams: Afterwards - 'The more one listens, the more intriguing this strong work becomes. With its integration of percussion and voices, powerful humanitarian message, theatrical staging and unusual textures, Afterwards deserves a lasting place in the choral repertoire.'
Iain Grandage: The Riders (Winner) - 'This is a significant contribution to Australian music: utterly moving and beautifully written for the voice. The orchestration is clean and clear and the use of electronic sounds is notable for its absence of clich. The subject matter, with its Antipodean and European referentialities, creates an engaging and new construct on the complexity of Australian identity in the 21st century.'
Joseph Twist: How shall we sing in a strange land? - This work reflects the cultural diversity, contradictions and mixed history of post-colonial Australia through the juxtaposition of sacred and secular texts. It stands out for its excellent writing for voice and the way it reveals itself in performance, particularly through its use of aleatory elements.'
Dan Walker: Mass of Deliverance - ' With fluid and long cantabile choral lines and atmospheric flugelhorn solos, this Mass is an attractive and useful addition to the repertoire for community choir. It is a work that may also lend itself to a range of versions with alternate accompaniments.'
Summary: The ideas, forms, instrumental combinations and sound worlds of the entries ranged widely, demonstrating wonderful inventiveness and skill on the part of composers represented and the tremendous variety of ensembles committed to new Australian music.
Damian Barbeler: Shadow Box (concert version) - 'Outstanding craft and structure and attractive instrumental sonorities characterise this well-shaped, short piece, in this composer's distinctive voice.'
Paul Grabowsky: The Nightingale and the Rose - 'Rich, eerie harmonies contribute to this work's contemporary sound, and the virtuosic solo recorder part is balanced exceptionally well with the string quartet.'
Damien Ricketson The Secret Noise (Winner) - 'A fascinating work of imagination and superlative craft. The composer has cleverly integrated the instrumental and dance elements so both contribute to the theatricality of the whole, and the sonic palette is startlingly strange and beautiful.'
Summary: The astonishing level of talent in Australian writing for orchestra was apparent in the diverse nominations which ranged in form from occasional works to large, multi-artform collaborations. The panel noted an interesting evolution of the concerto form, where both composer and soloist contribute to the improvisation which featured in compositional collaborations.
Brett Dean: Dramatis Personae: music for trumpet and orchestra (Winner)- 'This imaginative masterpiece grips the listener's attention throughout. The far-reaching expressive range, stretching the virtuoso soloist, and magnificent orchestration demonstrating the composer's continually evolving technique and command of form, make this an exciting and moving experience.'
Elena Kats-Chernin/Jon Rose: Elastic Band for solo improvised violin and orchestra - 'Improvisation by the orchestra in response to the soloist's improvised line with its extended techniques, and live-mix conductor are bold features of this terrific piece. The collaborators have created an absorbing and fiercely innovative work.'
Lachlan Skipworth: Concerto for clarinet and orchestra - 'This fresh concerto with its clever orchestration creates a sound world for the soloist which explores the darker side of the clarinet. The cadenza - a collaboration between composer and soloist of fascinating textures - is particularly impressive.'
Paul Stanhope and the Bunuba People, Steve Hawke librettist: Jandamarra - Sing for the Country
'This successful collaboration with the Banuba people of the Kimberley region in Western Australia has resulted in a piece that handles brilliantly its large forces of orchestra, choirs, dancers and actors, and creates a moving and powerful sense of place.'
Summary: The finalists represent the diversity of works nominated in the category from traditional jazz ensembles to innovative collaborations with players new to the idiom. The many distinctive voices, from the emerging to the established, displayed their skill in writing for a range of styles, forms and instrumentations.
Mace Francis: Music for Average Photography (Winner) - 'This exciting work compels the listener with its strong, excellent writing for big band. It is clever, creative and consistently interesting.'
Summary: The panel was impressed by the rich and varied array of works, demonstrating that commissioning and performing Australian music is alive in all corners of the repertoire. The panel was encouraged by the entries from orchestras and ensembles engaged in extending the boundaries of their traditional performance styles.
Michael Kieran Harvey for Luz meridional, Twenty-four tudes for Pianoforte, no. 411 by Andrin Pertout - ' Illustrating this performer's commitment to long, sustained works, this compelling, virtuosic performance of an ambitious score is fierce, intense and beautiful.'
Ashley William Smith, West Australian Symphony Orchestra and conductor Baldur Bronniman for Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra (Winner) by Lachlan Skipworth - ' The technical mastery displayed is matched by the musicality of the performance. The performer's command of his instrument enabled him to realise the composer's intentions - written-out and improvised - accurately and with flair.'
Synergy Percussion for Beauty Will Be Amnesiac Or Will Not Be At All by Anthony Pateras - A thrilling performance of a demanding work requiring specially constructed instruments and creative use of the performance space celebrates 40 years of outstanding work.
West Australian Symphony Orchestra for Concerto for Orchestra by Carl Vine - This exceptional and thoroughly prepared performance saw the orchestra rise to the challenge of this exciting work, with every section and individual contributing their utmost.
Summary: The finalists come from a strong field. The panel was encouraged by the quality of the younger artists in the category and delighted by the range of performing, recording and touring initiatives in regional as well as metropolitan communities.
Jeanell Carrigan for resurrecting the piano music of Meta Overman - 'The revelation of Meta Overman's music is a real performer's project, with high-quality scores, performances, recordings, documentation and academically benchmarked research.'
Julian Day for excellence in researching, broadcasting and presenting the work of Australian musicians to a broad national and international public on ABC Classic FM, BBC and other broadcast and print media outlets - 'Julian's single-minded focus on contemporary music benefits his audiences as he digs deeply into the repertoire and conducts great interviews. A fabulous broadcaster.'
Ross Edwards for his contribution to Australian chamber music (Winner) - 'Ross has composed chamber music for nearly five decades. His formidable catalogue, beginning with a Bagatelle (for oboe and piano, 1968) and running through some 60 works to last year's String Quartet No.3 (2014), is a treasury of the familiar and the waiting to be rediscovered.'
Peter Knight for leadership, composition, performance, curation - 'While continuing his role as Artistic Director of the Australian Art Orchestra, which he took on in 2013, in 2014 Peter also maintained his own busy performing and composing career in Australia and overseas.'
Summary: The panel was pleased to note the increasingly high standard of nominations, the widespread and excellent level of choral activity, the role of regional organisations and professional orchestras in the presentation of new music, and the many fine individual ensembles producing, touring and promoting Australian music here and overseas.
Gondwana Choirs for the 2014 artistic program and significant contribution to Australian music since 1989 (Winner) - 'The sustained contribution of this important national organisation cannot be overstated. With Lyn Williams as Artistic Director and driving force since founding Sydney Children's Choir in 1989, the 2014 program was exceptional, in particular the stunning VOICES installation, premiered at Melbourne's White Nights and experienced by over 14,000 people.'
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