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14 January 2014

Don Banks Music Award to Mike Nock


Mike Nock Image: Mike Nock  

[Update 31 January: the 1 February event is now sold out.]

Jazz pianist, composer and educator Mike Nock has been awarded the prestigious 2014 Australia Council Don Banks Music Award. The $60,000 award will be presented to Nock on 1 February before the performance of his 60-minute SIMA Suite at the Sound Lounge in Sydney (event details).

The annual award honours a distinguished artist who has made an outstanding and sustained contribution to music in Australia. Past winners of the prize from 1996 onwards are: Richard Mills, Richard Meale, Bernie McGann, Brenton Broadstock, Bunna Lawrie, Allan Browne, Lyndall Hendrickson, John Curro, Jan Sedivka, Carl Vine, Richard Gill, Peter Sculthorpe, Bob Sedergreen, Tony Gould, Warren Fahey, Belinda Webster, Jon Rose and Kev Carmody.

Born in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 1940, Mike Nock played his first concert in 1951. His career since then has seen him perform and record with many of the world's top musicians in a wide range of contemporary musical styles. In the process he has become widely recognised as a leading jazz pianist/composer, initially through his seminal and influential jazz-rock group the Fourth Way, then later through his extensive catalogue of recordings and compositions.

Although best known as a jazz musician, his compositions encompass a broad range of instrumentation and style. His music has been commissioned, recorded and performed by a range of leading classical and jazz musicians and has appeared in several print editions.

In 2003, Nock was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for services to jazz. While living in the USA in 1961-1985, he received three National Endowment Awards for composition. From 1999-2001 he held a two-year Australian Arts Council Fellowship. For six years, he was also the music director for Naxos/Jazz, overseeing the production of more than 60 widely acclaimed CDs from all corners of the world.

Further links

Mike Nock - AMC profile
Mike Nock - homepage
Australia Council for the Arts - Don Banks Music Award
Media release 14 January 2014 (Australia Council for the Arts)


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