The critics have had their say – as have an unprecedented number of Limelight‘s readers.

The Australian Artist of the Year is Sydney Symphony Orchestra Chief Conductor Simone Young, the International Artist of the Year is the pianist Stephen Hough and The Tallis Scholars are the 2025 winner of Limelight’s People’s Choice poll.

Limelight’s 2025 Australian Artist of the Year, Simone Young. Photo © Sydney Symphony Orchestra

For Young, it’s a third Australian Artist of the Year title (following wins in 2018 and 2022). “To be recognised by audiences as well as critics means a great deal to me,” she said, reflecting on a year in which her tenure as Chief Conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra was extended to 2029 and her international standing scaled new heights.

Across 2025, Young’s leadership of the SSO was marked by epic statements and narrative sweep, including a Deutsche Grammophon release pairing Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony with the world premiere of William Barton’s Of the Earth, and an unfolding, sold-out Ring cycle that has confirmed her mastery of Wagner’s long arcs.

Add a Top 10 ranking in Bachtrack’s global conductor statistics, an honorary doctorate from the University of Sydney and major European engagements, and Young’s dual win feels less like a coronation than a confirmation.

Stephen Hough. Photo © Sydney Symphony Orchestra

International Artist of the Year Sir Stephen Hough also enjoyed a triumphant Australian chapter in 2025. Touring nationally with five different concertos – including his own The World of Yesterday, premiered here by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra – Hough combined virtuosity with curiosity, programming Mendelssohn alongside rarities and championing repertoire others sidestep.

A dual British-Australian citizen, Hough greeted the award as a homecoming of sorts, noting his father’s Newcastle origins a century ago. Nearly 80 recordings into a career of uncommon breadth, Hough remains “the pianist’s pianist”: poetic, probing and always electrifying.

The Tallis Scholars at Sydney Opera House. Photo © Jay Patel

Britain’s The Tallis Scholars secured Limelight‘s People’s Choice Award (and were runners-up in the Critics’ poll) in the wake of its 11th Australian tour.

Founded in 1973 by Peter Phillips, the ensemble has become synonymous with Renaissance polyphony sung with luminous control and “legendary purity”. A series of sold-out concerts, workshops and rapturous receptions confirms – were confiramtion required – that early music, in the right hands, continues to speak with undimmed power.

Read Limelight‘s in-depth coverage of the 2025 Artists of the Year in our March 2026 edition, available now.

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