Australian composer Liza Lim has been named Composer of the Year at the 2024 OPUS KLASSIK Awards, which present Germany’s highest honours in classical music.

Liza Lim. Photo © Astrid Ackermann

Lim was recognised for her work Annunciation Triptych, a three-part, 50-minute orchestral cycle commissioned by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the WDR Sinfonieorchester and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks.

Each movement of the work celebrates a different female spiritual leader – the Greek poet Sappho, Mary, mother of Jesus and Lady Fatimah al-Zahra.

The work was premiered by the WDR Sinfonieorchester in 2022, which released a recording of the work in 2023.

Lim was nominated alongside Croatian composer Dejan Lazić and Swiss composer Fabian Müller.

Other winners in 2024 include American violinist Hilary Hahn and Chinese pianist Lang Lang (Instrumentalist of the Year), Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson (Bestseller of the Year), and young Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä (Conductor of the Year).

Last month, Lim was awarded an Australian Laureate Fellowship worth $3.74m by the Australian Research Council Fellowship. The funding will support a five-year program, using music to advocate for the urgency of climate change. She...