The Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music will be presented to Lyn Williams at the Art Music Awards on Wednesday 14 August in Melbourne.

Presented by APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre, the honour is awarded to Williams for her decades-long dedication to choral performance and music development in Australia. Previous winners of the accolade include William Barton (2023), Nigel Butterley (2022), Penny Lomax and Maureen Cooney (2021) and Ros Bandt (2020).

Lyn Williams. Photo supplied

Williams’ contribution to Australian choral music is unmatched since the conception of the Sydney Children’s Choir in 1989. Its gradual evolution saw the formation of the Gondwana Choirs, which today encompasses Gondwana Voices, Gondwana Chorale, Gondwana Indigenous Children’s Choirs and the Indigenous women’s choir, Marliya.

Over 35 years, the Gondwana Choirs has built a legacy of remarkable performances, with highlights including the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the monumental Gondwana World Choral Festival in 2019.

Williams’ artistic vision through the Gondwana Choirs has seen the commissioning of over 200 new choral works, many of which involve Australian composers and deep engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages and cultures. One notable example...