Paul Lowin Prizes
Held every 2-3 years, the Paul Lowin's Prizes are one of Australia's richest prizes for music composition. The 2006 Paul Lowin Prizes will award two prizes: The Orchestral Prize ($25,000) and The Song Cycle Prize ($15,000).
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Prize Ceremony: 5 October 2006
2006 Paul Lowin Prizes - Winners
The winners of the 2006 Paul Lowin Prizes were announced last night at a special ceremony at The Mint, Sydney. These Prizes encourage excellence in Australian composition, while giving exposure to some of our most outstanding Australian composers.
Paul Lowin Orchestral Prize ($25,000)
Brett Dean for his Viola Concerto.
Dean's Viola Concerto was co-commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and BBC Symphony Orchestra. The composer himself performed at its premiere with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London in 2005, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Los Angeles, and again at its Australian premiere with the Sydney Symphony in August this year. The judges described the work as "…imaginative and original. From the hauntingly evocative introductory fragment, into the exhilarating rush of the second movement, and through to the quiet and contemplative ending, the writing is masterly".
Rosalind Page for Sonetos del Amor Oscuro written for soprano, lute, baroque guitar, theorbo, percussion and soundtrack.
Page's Sonetos del Amor Oscuro is a setting of five sonnets by the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca. Lorca was killed at the age of 38, when, in the early days of the Spanish Civil War, he was arrested and executed in cold blood shortly before dawn in an Andalusian field. It is likely that his last collection would have included these sonnets of dark love. The Judges commented that, "the composer's choice of poetry demonstrates a passion for words and an ability to write most expressively, lyrically and dramatically for voice". Page's work is a journey of love's soul from light to dark, and was composed specially for soprano and co-artistic director of Halcyon, Alison Morgan.
2006 Paul Lowin Finalists
The Finalists of the 2006 Paul Lowin Prizes include some of Australia's most outstanding composers.
Paul Lowin Orchestral Prize ($25,000)
Brett Dean for his Viola Concerto, written for solo viola and orchestra; and Vexations and Devotions, written for choir and orchestra
Georges Lentz for Monh, written for solo viola, orchestra and electronics
Michael Smetanin for Mysterium Cosmographicum, concerto for piano and orchestra
Paul Lowin Song Cycle Prize ($15,000)
Gordon Kerry for Goodison Quartet No. 1 Country Music, written for mezzo-soprano and string quartet.
Elliott Gyger for From the Hungry Waiting Country, written for four voices (SSAA) and harp.
Rosalind Page for Sonetos del Amor Oscuro written for soprano, lute, baroque guitar, theorbo, percussion and soundtrack.
Damien Ricketson for A Line Has Two, written for soprano, aulos, 2 clarinets, 2 percussion and electronics.
About the Prizes
The Paul Lowin Prizes awards 2 outstanding Australian music compositions. The Orchestral Prize ($25,000) is for a work for modern chamber or symphony orchestra of at least 30 players and 15 independent lines. The work may include instrumental or vocal soloists and/or choral, electronically produced or pre-recorded elements. The Song Cycle Prize ($15,000) will be awarded to a work suitable for chamber performance, using no more than 1-8 independent vocal lines, accompanied by up to 10 instrumental players.
Mr Kenneth W Tribe, AC, is the Patron of the Paul Lowin Prizes.
Perpetual Trustees Australia Limited, the Trustee of the Awards, are proud to manage and be associated with the Paul Lowin Prizes.
Prize History
After immigrating to Australia in 1939, Czechoslovakian Paul Lowin worked as a wholesale dealer of cloth and dry goods, establishing the Swedish Handweaving Co. on George Street. Although a successful businessman, his work was never a main preoccupation. Mrs L Krips, a neighbour often visited by Lowin, wrote "We never found out what he was doing for a living, as nothing seemed to him important enough to talk about if he could talk about music".
Lowin's passion for music was manifest in the hand-written will found when, shortly after returning to Vienna in 1959, Lowin died of a heart attack. The will outlined his dream of encouraging excellence in music composition and his wish to establish a competition for works by living Australian composers.
It took thirty years for an appropriate scheme to be approved by the Chief Justice of NSW but eventually, in 1990, one of Australia's richest prizes for music composition was established. The competition was initially held every three years, but in 1995 further changes by the court enabled the competition to be held every two or three years. Since 1999 the prizes have been presented in collaboration with the Australian Music Centre, and the next prizes will be awarded this year.
For further detailed information about the history of the Paul Lowin prizes and past recipients visit the Paul Lowin website.
