A Perth soprano and administrator who champions diversity in performance has been named the WA Luminary winner in this year’s Art Music Awards.

Hannah Lee Tungate, State coordinator of Musica Viva Australia, founded Tenth Muse Initiative five years ago to promote marginalised artists and works.

Queer opera The Priestess of Morphine (2023) and Sapphic Serenade (2024) brought Tenth Muse mainstream attention, complementing Tungate’s work with the Women Composers Project.

“I’m so grateful to receive this recognition. Whether through research, advocacy or producing new works, my goal has always been to broaden the music we hear and whose stories we tell on our stages,” she said.

“Thank you to everyone who’s supported Tenth Muse Initiative and Women Composers Project, and I hope this recognition helps keep our momentum growing.”

The Art Music Awards are presented by APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre to recognise creators, performers and community leaders working in contemporary classical music, jazz, improvised music, sound art and experimental practice.

In addition to State and Territory winners, the awards honour a national figure with the Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music. This year’s Richard Gill nominee is Professor Liza Lim, of the Sydney Conservatorium, founder of the Composing Women Awards.

Tungate said she was overjoyed to be recognised for her work on diversity in the arts.

“To me, this award represents an encouragement to keep going, that the work I’ve been doing has had an impact, and gives me renewed impetus to continue,” she said.

“When I’m spending time alone researching forgotten composers or digging into orchestra statistics, I often worry who else will care about this work, but receiving recognition of this kind fills me with such motivation to keep researching and keep pushing for broader representation on stage.”

The 2026 Art Music Awards will be presented on August 19 in Melbourne.