With this year’s Classical:NEXT conference commencing on 17 May in Hannover, Germany, the conference’s jury has announced the shortlist of nominees for the 2022 Classical:NEXT Innovation Awards. The 20 nominees include two Australian companies: Big hART and Ngarra-Burria: First Peoples Composers.

Percussionist Bree van Reyk performing in The Acoustic Life of Boatsheds in the 2022 Sydney Festival. Photo © Brett Boardman

Aimed at recognising forward-thinking artists and projects internationally, the Innovation Awards are nominated by an international jury (including regular Limelight contributor Harriet Cunningham). The theme for the 2022 awards is “Collaboration”.

Big hART’s The Acoustic Life of Sheds has made it to the shortlist for this year. The project invites composers to create site-specific works, utilising industrial landscapes, namely sheds on farms and along rivers and harbours as sound-shells. The works are then presented in curated promenade concerts, shifting the audiences between installations. The project, which started in Tasmania in 2015, had its first mainland presentation, The Acoustic Life of Boatsheds, as part of the 2022 Sydney Festival, receiving a four-and-a-half star review from Limelight. In its...