Australian conductor Joanna Drimatis has been awarded the 2026 J. Michele Edwards Conductor Award by the International Alliance for Women in Music for “her deliberate and conscious efforts to achieve greater gender equality in the concert hall.”

Joanna Drimatis. Photo supplied

“I am overwhelmed and honoured to receive this award from the International Alliance of Women in Music,” says Dramatis.

“I wish to thank all the composers, musicians, orchestras and collaborators I have worked with over the last three years who have allowed me to be creative in my programming. I am excited to know this work is valued and very much look forward to continuing to promote diverse programming in my orchestral practice.”

A conductor, performer, musical director, researcher and educator, Drimatis is current the Music Director/Chief Conductor of the Beecroft Orchestra and Resident Conductor of the NSW Doctors’ Orchestra. She is a dedicated champion of Australian classical contemporary music and music education, she was awarded the NSW State Luminary Award at the 2020 Art Music Awards for her “sustained contribution to the performance, programming and advocacy of Australian works, and string music education”.

She has conducted orchestras including the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Mosman Symphony, Woollahra Philharmonic, the Australian Doctors’ Orchestra and Sydney Youth Orchestra, amongst others.

Among her credits include productions of The Marriage of Figaro, the world premiere of Felicity Wilcox’s Threading the Light, and the Australian premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s Èmilie.

Drimatis also holds the position of Music Education Specialist with the Australian Music Centre, and co-curates and conducts for its Momentum Plus orchestral recording project.

More about the International Alliance for Women in Music’s Conductor Award can be found here.