A dynamic group of Australian songwriters and composers have been announced as the recipients of the 2022 APRA AMCOS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AWARDS (PDAs).
The APRA AMCOS PDAs are an annual honour that exist to support developing songwriters and composers across a range of genres by providing a $10,000 cash award at a pivotal stage in their respective careers.
The 2022 APRA AMCOS PDAs showcase music creators across multiple disciplines, from soul artist Tiana Khasi to composer and saxophonist Rafael Karlen, screen composer Michael Drew, country-pop artist Melanie Dyer and Music Theatre honouree Brittanie Shipway.
Congratulations to the 2022 PDA recipients:
Beckah Amani – Popular Contemporary
Georgia Potter pka Moreton – Popular Contemporary
Kitty Xiao – Classical / Experimental
Melanie Dyer – Country / Americana
Liz Maniscalco pka BRUX – Dance/ Electronic
Michael Drew – Film and Television / Gaming
Tiana Khasi – Hip Hop / Rap / R&B / Soul
Rafael Karlen – Jazz / Improvised Music
Brittanie Shipway – Yellow Rock – A Gumbaynggirr Song Circle – Music Theatre
Danzal Baker pka Baker Boy – Smugglers of Light Music and Media Award
See below for background information on each of the recipients.
“The Professional Development Awards support our members by recognising their talent as well as investing in it. Over the past two years, many of our members have had their livelihoods, professional opportunities and creative development hampered due to the pandemic, and yet they continue to pursue their goals and innovate to share their output. APRA AMCOS is proud to back our members with this special award,” said APRA AMCOS Chief Executive Dean Ormston.
Each winner is awarded a $10,000 cash prize as well as a prize from Australis Music ranging from an Epiphone Casino Coupe guitar to a Behringer POLY-D Synth.
Rapper, actor and dancer, Baker Boy, has been named the recipient of the $12,000 Music and Media Award grant from the Smugglers of Light, a foundation set up by Australian composer and conductor Nigel Westlake in memory of his son Eli Westlake.
A panel of judges comprising Jenny Morris, Dave Ruby Howe, Yve Blake, Brooke McClymont, Adalita, Pip Norman, Nina Las Vegas, Joel Ma, John Ferris and more have determined the impressive winners.
Previous PDA winners include Briggs, Morgan Evans, Mo’Ju, Julian Jacklin, Gordi and Jess Hitchcock.
A playlist featuring the work of all PDAs finalists is available on Spotify and Apple Music.
2022 APRA AMCOS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AWARD WINNERS
POPULAR CONTEMPORARY
Beckah Amani – Beckah Amani takes songwriting in a new place, a place of fearless embodiment of emotions presented through utterly vulnerable and intensely profound lyrics. Her brand of honesty is rooted in her disarming vocals, expressing reflections of our world and ourselves through a candid lens intricately digging deeper into narratives meaningful and relevant. She weaves the best parts of soul, folk and pop inspired by a nuanced blend of artists from Adele to Al Green, Ed Sheeran to Nina Simone and Rihanna.
2020 saw Beckah release the thought-provoking track ‘STANDARDS’, which caught the attention of many including superstar Tones And I who went on to place the song in her Instagram-based competition That One Song. Moreover, Double J titled ‘STANDARDS’ as “one of the best tracks added to Double J” rotation and triple j’s Declan Byrne stated that Beckah’s “voice needs to be heard by millions”. Continuing the momentum, 2021 saw Beckah take home two Queensland Music Awards (Best Emerging Artist and the Billy Thorpe Scholarship) and open for international superstar Tones And I in the span of one week. She also took home two awards at the Gold Coast Music Awards for “STANDARDS” (Song Of The Year & Video Of The Year).
Georgia Potter (Moreton) – Since the release of their captivating debut recordings, Australian 4-piece Moreton have been recognised as a rock act whose music flows at its own pace; with a sound that is at once mighty and intimate. Marked by the stirring voice of Georgia Potter and the minimalist triumph of the band’s rhythm section, their stories of trouble are made beautiful with shining cinematic sounds, timelessly reminiscent of Portishead, Grizzly Bear and Radiohead. Their brooding art-rock style has established them a strong cult following internationally and major collaborations with James Vincent McMorrow, Jordan Rakei and Late Night Tales.
Moreton are championed by tastemakers around the world including radio play on BBC 6 & 2, Radio X, NPR Staff Picks and LA’s KCRW, as well as Rolling Stone, Clash Magazine and major editorial playlist on Spotify and Apple Music. Renowned for their impressive live abilities, evident in their sold-out headline shows and festival appearances such as Splendour in the Grass and the Commonwealth Games, Moreton brims with the nascent energy of a new band hitting their own sweet spot.
CLASSICAL / EXPERIMENTAL
Kitty Xiao – Kitty Xiao is an Australian composer, electronic musician and pianist. Central to her aesthetic is a search for unity in contemporary culture, human psyche, art and machine. Her music moves between the world of concert music to performing as an electronic artist of experimental noise and techno. Her music involves electro-acoustic and acoustic compositions, and live modular sets which explore the relationship between sound and physical embodiment, the space it occupies, its tactility, and intensity.
Kitty is resident composer of 2021-2022 Château d’Orquevaux (FR), 2021-2022 International Ensemble Modern Academy (DE), 2021 Darmstädter Ferienkurse (DE), 2021 SICPP at New England Conservatory (US), 2020 line upon line percussion (US), 2020 Red Note New Music Festival (US), 2019 American Composer’s Orchestra Earshot program (US), 2019 Yarn/Wire Institute (US), 2017 Tilde New Music Academy (AU), 2016 Keep Composer’s Weird (US), 2016 Australian Art Orchestra CMI (AU).
COUNTRY / AMERICANA
Melanie Dyer – Australian artist/songwriter Melanie Dyer burst onto the country-pop scene in 2015 with startling vibrancy. Her EP Lifetime was both a stunning artistic blueprint and a tearaway chart success. The title track and video spent several weeks in the CMC Top 50 with multiple singles cracking the Australian Country Music Airplay Chart Top 10. The EP signaled the arrival of a phenomenal new voice and songwriter in Australian music – both in the world of country and on the local pop landscape.
More recently Melanie enjoyed breakout success with her single ‘Memphis T-Shirt’. Released in Nov 2019, the song was added to playlists on HIT & Nova Networks and over 100 Regional stations around Australia, enjoying 6 weeks at #1 on The Music Network’s Country Hot 50 Chart and #1 on CMC. The song received an APRA Music Awards nomination for Most Performed Country Work in 2021. Melanie is currently racing up the chart with her latest single ‘Run Out Of Road’.
DANCE / ELECTRONIC
Liz Mansicalco pka BRUX – 2020 saw BRUX’s debut Fruit EP being celebrated as an emerging artist to watch by Billboard, Rolling Stone and DJ Times and receiving rotation on triple j. With recent songwriting and production cuts alongside Cassian, Bag Raiders, Max Styler, LA Riots, Matroda and Clams Casino for labels including Future Classic, Toolroom Records and RUFUS’s Rose Avenue imprint; and official remixes for Tokimonsta, PNAU, The Kite String Tangle and Pat Lok; BRUX is making her mark on the worlds of pop and dark electronica alike. BRUX has produced and co-written upcoming releases for notable artists Kimbra, Sparrows, The Dawn Of May & Jordi Up Late, with more collaborations on the way.
Her latest single ‘Take’ features Kimbra and has dropped on Deadbeats Records, with praise from Billboard and Dancing Astronaut as she gets ready to release her EP Take in the coming months. With her own newly-created genre, she bridges the gap between pop songwriting and dark dance making these her rawest, grittiest productions yet.
FILM & TELEVISION / GAMING
Michael Drew – Michael Drew is a multi-award-winning Australian composer for film, television and games. He holds a Master of Fine Arts (First Class Honours) in Music for Motion Pictures and Contemporary Media from the Film Scoring Academy of Europe. Michael has scored over 30 projects from films,web series,games and more. Recently he teamed up with Bulgarian stars Ivo Dimchev and Iva Todorova and arranged and orchestrated a catalogue of their works performed live with the Vratsa Symphony Orchestra which tours 2021 and 2022. He has also had extensive recording experience working with the European Recording Orchestra playing multiple roles from composer, orchestrator, conductor and score supervisor.
Michael’s film scores have received 13 awards from around the world as well as several nominations. Following his early success in film, Michael began to branch out and compose for games. He has a keen interest in spatial audio which is reflected in the research projects he has undertaken including his MFA thesis from FSAE.
HIP HOP / RAP / R&B / SOUL
Tiana Khasi – It’s not often an artist establishes themselves so eloquently with their debut EP, but in the case of Melbourne-based future soul artist Tiana Khasi, this was precisely achieved with the release of her 2019 debut EP, Meghalaya – a powerful statement of intent honouring her Samoan and Indian heritage. A trained vocalist whose voice has been described ‘as venomous as it is honey-sweet’, Tiana’s music pays homage to her heritage while exploring a forward-thinking blend of soul, jazz and pop.
In 2020, Khasi released a follow-up EP, Meghalaya – The Remixes – a project that invited friends and respected collaborators to explore playful interpretations of her songs. Featuring contributions from Sampology, Horatio Luna and So.Crates, the remixes arrived dance-floor ready, breathing new energy into the music and representing community and collaboration at its core. In a moment of reclamation in music, Tiana’s community-led approach and innate ability to integrate past experiences to shape new future sounds is not only what sets her apart, but carries her music forward.
JAZZ & IMPROVISED MUSIC
Rafael Karlen – Rafael Karlen is an award-winning composer, saxophonist, and arranger based in Sydney. He has continued to build a reputation as one of the more creative, exciting and surprising musicians on the Australian music scene. Rafael’s music has been performed by small jazz groups, rock and pop ensembles, big bands through to chamber orchestras, choirs and string quartets. He has performed throughout Australia and New Zealand, and in Canada, Cambodia, England, Scotland and Sweden.
Rafael has played with and had his music performed by ensembles and artists ranging from: The Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra, Megan Washington, Kristin Berardi, Mace Francis Orchestra, The Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Pascal Schumacher (Luxembourg), Julian Arguelles (UK), Divergence Jazz Orchestra, The Australian Voices, and Camerata-Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra.
MUSIC THEATRE
Brittanie Shipway – Brittanie Shipway is a proud Gumbaynggirr and Turkish woman. A graduate from NIDA (Musical Theatre), Brittanie is an actor, singer, writer, dramaturge and storyteller. After studying acting in New York at the Lee Strasberg, Brittanie returned home to Australia to make her professional debut at The Hayes with RPG’s Big Fish and went on to perform in Chapel Off Chapel’s Ordinary Days (Claire) to critical acclaim. Her recent credits include Arbiter in Chess alongside Paulini and Natalie Bassingthwaite, Kay in The Sapphires, Lauren in Kinky Boots, Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, and Sport For Jove’s Othello and Rose Riot. She is most well-known for her appearance on The Voice, where she turned all four chairs in her Blind audition.
As a writer, Brittanie has been awarded grants from Australia Council of the Arts, Create NSW and Belvoir to workshop her autobiographical play A Letter For Molly. This play will debut at Ensemble Theatre in 2022, starring Brittanie under the directorial helm of Ursula Yovich. Her musical Yellow Rock has received Create NSW grants, and has been workshopped by Ernie Dingo, Ursula Yovich, Callan Purcell (Hamilton), Marcus Corowa and Teresa Moore (Bran Nue Dae). Her other creative credits include writing short stories for ABC Radio, SBS Voices, and composing original music in Sport For Jove’s recent production of Othello. Her play SENSER will debut at Theatre Works in September 2022, featuring new compositions by Brittanie.
SMUGGLERS OF LIGHT FOUNDATION MUSIC & MEDIA AWARD
Danzal Baker (Baker Boy) – Baker Boy is the freshest new hip hop talent to emerge from Australia. Young, strong and proud Baker Boy raps in English and Yolngu Matha language representing his Arnhem Land family. Baker Boy is a multidisciplinary talent working across rap, dance and acting. He hopes to inspire younger generations to embrace their culture and become leaders in their community.
With each successive release, Baker Boy continues to establish himself as a deft, talented rapper, with charisma and verve inherited from the genre’s greats. His list of career accolades includes six ARIA nominations; an ARIA Gold certification for ‘Cool As Hell’ and ‘Mr La Di Da Di’; six wins at the National Indigenous Music Awards; an Order of Australia medal; the 2019 Young Australian of the Year award; multiple placements in triple j’s Hottest 100 and over 44.4 million streams of his music worldwide. He also performed at the 2021 AFL Grand Final.
