Artists of the Year

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Nominations are now open for the 2025 awards.

Limelight's readers and critics have voted for the Australian and international artists who raised their heart rates in 2024.

Their votes have been tallied, and we are thrilled to announce the winners.

People's Choice

Australian Artist of the Year

Jayson Gillham

It was about more than just the music. Jayson Gillham’s impact on the wider culture has generated headlines worldwide.

Runners-Up

Simone Young

Simone Young was both maestro and master storyteller in her perfect reading of Die Walküre, with the SSO and an all-star cast at the top of their game.

Siobhan Stagg

Stagg’s performance was a constant wonder and her glorious tone was focused and consistently resplendent across the full range.

William Barton

With William Barton creating a highly coloured soundscape on his didgeridoo, a world of sound came alive.

Kathryn Selby

Kathryn Selby continued to reveal great sensitivity and awareness as a chamber musician, and proved herself a genuine Mozartian ... very special.

Sally Walker

Walker, who moves to the music, added a vibrancy on top of the string quartet ... she stood out with her clear tonal presence.

International Artist of the Year

Andreas Scholl

Alongside the Australian World Orchestra, Scholl was able to instil an extraordinary range of emotions, nuance and drama.

Runners-Up

Yuja Wang

In 2024, Wang won the Grammy for Classical Instrumental Solo for her album The American Project, released by Deutsche Grammophon.

Angela Hewitt

The singing, beautifully shaped phrasing, faultless touch and poetic awareness all made for a complete listening experience.

Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock rocked the Sydney Opera House with a brilliant band and 90 minutes of hard-driving, funk-infused jazz.

Stephen Hough

After a stellar collaboration with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Australians keenly await Hough's return to the SSO, QSO and ASO.

Esmé Quartet

An intense, compact listening experience from a young quartet with an enviable reputation for elegance, precision and energy.

Critics' Choice

Australian Artist of the Year

Jayson Gillham

It was about more than just the music. Jayson Gillham’s impact on the wider culture has generated headlines worldwide.

Runners-Up

Simone Young

In July 2024, the Australian conductor became the first woman to conduct Wagner's tetralogy at Bayreuth, and in November covered for Thielemann at La Scala.

Goldner Quartet

Music lovers gave heavenly thanks as they farewelled the incomparable Goldner String Quartet after 30 years in the room where it all began.

Brett Dean

Six years after its first Australian outing, Brett Dean’s must-see opera Hamlet was back with Allan Clayton recreating his bravura portrayal of the titular Dane.

Samantha Clarke

Clarke gave a "technically secure, acoustically gorgeous and dramatically convincing" as Cleopatra in Handel's Julius Caesar for Pinchgut Opera.

William Barton

William Barton continued to expand the horizons of the instrument of which he is arguably Australia’s leading player.

International Artist of the Year

Allan Clayton

Clayton delivers an exceptionally fine performance ... it is hard to imagine a better portrayal of the ill-fated Dane in any genre.

Runners-Up

Víkingur Ólafsson

Ólafsson’s control of dynamic is almost freakish – sometimes it is almost as if he has pushed the mute button and we hear the ghost of melody.

Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock rocked the Opera House with a brilliant band and 90 minutes of hard-driving, funk-infused jazz.

Yuja Wang

In 2024, Wang won the Grammy for Classical Instrumental Solo for her album The American Project, released by Deutsche Grammophon.

Angela Hewitt

There are a handful of performers you listen to in concert and you come away thinking, how could that be improved upon? Hewitt is one of that rare breed.

Roderick Williams

His expressiveness is extraordinary ... a veritable storyteller, conveying drama through thoughtful phrasing and dynamic shifts.

Giving Culture Award

Our readers' favourite performance of 2024

Die Walküre

Sydney Symphony Orchestra

★★★★★

Simone Young is both maestro and master storyteller in this perfect reading of Die Walküre, with the SSO and an all-star cast at the top of their game.

Get the full story

Read about the achievements of our winners – Jayson Gillham, Andreas Scholl, Allan Clayton and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra‘s performance of Die Walküre – in the March 2025 issue of Limelight, available from Monday 24 February.

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