Vintage planes and stunt pilots take to the skies of central Queensland
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ABC News
5 hours ago
- ABC News
Opera about ancient king Gilgamesh crowned winner at the 2025 Art Music Awards
One of Australia's newest operas, Gilgamesh, has been crowned the biggest winner of the 2025 Art Music Awards in a ceremony held in Sydney last night. Other winners include former ABC Classic presenter and producer Stephen Adams, jazz outfit Koi Kingdom featuring saxophonist Cheryl Durongpisitkul, and performers including Sydney Chamber Opera, Opera Australia, the Australian String Quartet and Ensemble Offspring. The awards recognise the achievements of composers and performers of contemporary classical music, jazz, improvisation, electronic sound arts and experimental practices. Based on an ancient Sumerian epic, Gilgamesh tells the story of a tyrant king who learns the meaning of wisdom through friendship, love and loss during the course of the opera. Premiered in 2024, it is the first time the epic of Gilgamesh has been performed as an English language opera, with text written by well-known librettist Louis Garrick. Gilgamesh's composer, Jack Symonds, received two awards: Work of the Year: Dramatic for Gilgamesh, and the NSW State Luminary Award for his outstanding contributions to contemporary Australian opera. Gilgamesh also earned Sydney Chamber Opera, Opera Australia, the Australian String Quartet and Ensemble Offspring the award for Performance of the Year: Notated Composition. Former ABC Classic producer Stephen Adams, long-time curator of Australian music for the network, has been recognised with a National Luminary Award for his outstanding contribution and dedication to Australian music. Women composers continue to make a strong impact in the Australian art community. Anne Cawrse, Cathy Milliken and Kate Milligan won Work of the Year awards for Choral Composition, Chamber Music and Electroacoustic/Sound Art respectively. Melbourne-based Jazz musician Cheryl Durongpisitkul was part of the award-winning trio Koi Kingdom for Work of the Year: Jazz. Chloe Kim's composition, titled Music for Six Double Bassists, won Performance of the Year: Jazz/Improvised Music category. Art music visionaries, Jon Rose and Hollis Taylor, were honoured with the prestigious Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music for their boundary-pushing work and sonic exploration. Rose and Taylor have frequently collaborated on innovative projects including Great Fences of Australia, which maps the acoustic qualities of 35,000 kilometres of fence lines across the Australian outback. The ceremony, organised by the Australian Music Centre and APRA AMCOS, was held at Sydney's City Recital Hall. ABC Classic Drive presenter Vanessa Hughes hosted with guest presenters Nardi Simpson and Hamed Sadeghi, and music curation by Sia Ahmad. Three Excellence Awards were given out to projects that illuminate the importance of cross-cultural collaboration and artistic practice in contemporary Australian art music. Musica Viva Australia received this year's Award for Excellence in Music Education for its Accessible Music Education Program. Finalists: Leading arts and social change organisation, Big hART, won the Award for Excellence in a Regional Area for Tjaabi: Flood Country — 2024 Regional Tour. Finalists: Multi-award winner Aviva Endean took out the Award for Excellence in Experimental Practice for her work: The Breath Becomes The Wind. Finalists: The annual Luminary Awards are presented to those who have made a sustained impact on musical communities through their leadership, artistic practice and the championing of Australian repertoire. Former ABC Classic curator of Australian music Stephen Adams was recognised with the Luminary Award: National Individual for his outstanding contribution and dedication to Australian music as a broadcaster, producer, composer and advocate. Decibel New Music received the Luminary Award: National Organisation for its program of concerts, releases, tours and publications. The following Luminary Awards were also presented to individuals and organisations who have made significant contributions to the music community in their local state or territory.
News.com.au
6 hours ago
- News.com.au
Nikita Tszyu raises eyebrows with bizarre birthing story after Aussie stops Lulzim Ismaili in one round
Nikita Tszyu's return fight was highly anticipated, but in the end, his bizarre and graphic post-fight speech lasted longer and made more headlines than the bout itself. On Wednesday night, Tszyu scored a one-sided first-round stoppage win over Lulzim Ismaili, who was dropped in the first before refusing to get off his stool to start the second. Watch the biggest Aussie sports & the best from overseas LIVE on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1. After travelling from Germany, Ismaili was completely outclassed and overpowered by the man known as 'The Butcher'. Ismaili was dropped with a huge left hand in the opening round, and moments after it looked as if he would be stopped as he turned his back and tried to protect himself before escaping back to the ropes A patient Tszyu then went hard to the body, breaking Ismaili's rib with the last punch of the first round. And from the moment he sat on the stool, everyone in the arena knew he wasn't going to get back up. But any fan who immediately felt they had been short-changed in entertainment due to the short bout was soon mistaken as Tszyu went on a wild rant, starting with a truly bizarre baby birthing story and ending with revealing he missed his rival Michael Zerafa's fight because he was going to the bathroom. Tszyu raised plenty of eyebrows last week when he revealed his wife's placenta in capsule form, and breast milk was part of his pre-fight diet. And when asked if he had a message for his baby Curiosity – who is named after a NASA Mars rover – Tszyu revealed his walkout song choice was actually a nod to her. Walking out initially to The Undertaker's theme, and then Thunderstruck by ACDC, that may seem like a weird dedication on the surface, but Tszyu revealed the ACDC song was actually the first thing the baby heard. 'Thunderstruck is the song she came out to as we were having her,' Tszyu revealed post-fight. But it soon got even weirder. 'As we were having a C-section, I had the nurse play it,' Tszyu continued, before explaining how that was why he walked out with his eyes closed. 'I was thinking about Curiosity,' he said. 'Seeing her naked body being pulled out of my wife.' You can watch his full post-fight interview in the player at the top of the page. Unsurprisingly, announcer Ben Damon was keen to move on from that conversation as he asked Tszyu about his troublesome hand and return to the ring before asking about his rival Zerafa. When asked about what he thought of Zerafa's performance on Wednesday night, after the journeyman demolished American Mikey Dahlman in the co-main, Tszyu said he didn't see it. 'I went for a piss during Zerafa's fight to be honest,' Tszyu said on Main Event. 'I came back and f**k, it was over.' However, a match-up between the pair is becoming increasingly likely, with Zerafa calling out both Tim and Nikita Tszyu for years. 'It's a very dangerous fight. There are a lot of question marks with me with my experience, he's very experienced,' Tszyu continued. 'But you've got to test yourself. There's no way to improve without beating someone who's better than you.'
ABC News
8 hours ago
- ABC News
David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz guest program rage (2013)
Last week Australia lost a titan of the film and television game; acclaimed journalist, author, interviewer, educator, television personality and producer David Stratton. So, for this week's Vault Guest Programmer episode, we're replaying a very special episode featuring David and his At The Movies co-host Margaret Pomeranz. Join us this Friday night for this once-off auteur special as David and Margaret walk us through the who's who of incredible music video (and film!) directors. Featured names include David Lynch, Wong Kar-wai, Richard Lowenstein and much more, plus there's some hilarious stories from David and Margaret themselves. Catch the action this Friday night on ABC Entertains from 11:40pm!
