Judges
Missy Higgins
Missy Higgins is one of Australia’s most beloved singer/songwriters. She has struck a deep and enduring chord with her irresistible melodies, ‘arrow through the heart’ lyrics and classics like “Scar”, “The Special Two”, “Steer”, “Everyone’s Waiting” and “Futon Couch”.
2024 was a huge year for Missy with the release of The Second Act - “a kind of sequel” to her hugely influential debut The Sound Of White. That million-selling classic was about taking on the world as a 20-year-old while The Second Act is about doing that all over again as a 40-year-old, after the stories you told yourself turned out not to be true. Written, produced, and performed largely on her own, it’s a powerful statement which topped the ARIA charts 20 years to the day after The Sound Of White reached #1.
The Second Act Tour drew unanimous rave reviews and played to 100,000+ Australians, culminating in her induction into the ARIA Hall Of Fame. Since being Unearthed by Triple J while still at high school, Missy has blazed a trail for female singer/songwriters in this country, marching to her own drumbeat and earning 26 ARIA Award nominations plus seven ARIA #1’s (so far!).
Photo credit: Tajette O'Halloran
Benjamin Northey
Australian conductor Benjamin Northey is the Chief Conductor of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Conductor in Residence of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Principal Conductor in Residence of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. In 2025 he was appointed as Director of the Australian Conducting Academy.
Northey studied conducting at Finland's Sibelius Academy with Professors Leif Segerstam and Atso Almila and completed his studies at the Stockholm Royal College of Music with Jorma Panula in 2006.
Northey appears regularly as a guest conductor with all major Australian symphony orchestras, Opera Australia (La bohème, Turandot, L'elisir d'amore, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Carmen), New Zealand Opera (Sweeney Todd) and the State Opera South Australia (La sonnambula, L’elisir d’amore, Les contes d’Hoffmann).
His international appearances include concerts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, the Malaysian Philharmonic and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
An Aria Awards, Air Music Awards, and Art Music Awards winner, he was voted Limelight Magazine's Australian Artist of the Year in 2018. Northey's many recordings can be found on ABC Classics.
In 2025, he conducts the Melbourne, Sydney, Queensland, Tasmanian and Christchurch Symphony Orchestras and the Hong Kong Philharmonic.
www.benjaminnorthey.com
IG @maestrobenny
f @BNConductor
Photo credit: Laura Manariti
Genevieve Lacey
Musician and arts advocate Genevieve Lacey creates, performs and curates. Her work can be experienced in museums, concert halls, parks and gardens, festivals and the digital realm. She’s been touring inter/nationally for decades, has a substantial recording catalogue, and an ABC film Recorder Queen has been made about her life.
As a recorder virtuoso, Genevieve’s performed at the Lindau International Convention of Nobel Laureates, as concerto soloist in the Royal Albert Hall for BBC Proms, at London Jazz Festival and on Thursday Island with Australian indigenous ensemble The Black Arm Band. Her own creative works include Breathing Space (a permanent sound installation at the National Museum of Australia), Soliloquy (a communal re-invention of the solo recital), Pleasure Garden (a listening garden).
Genevieve curates Utzon Music for Sydney Opera House. She’s been artistic director for Finding Our Voice, artistic advisor to UKARIA, director of Musica Viva’s FutureMakers and 2018 artist-in-residence at the Melbourne Recital Centre. She’s on the board of A New Approach, former Chair of the Australian Music Centre.
She’s won ARIAs, Helpmanns, Green Rooms, Churchill, Freedman, Australia Council Fellowships, Melbourne Prize for Music (Outstanding Musician Award), Sidney Myer Individual Performing Arts Award. In 2024 Breathing Space won Work of the Year (Electroacoustic/Sound Art) at the ARPA Art Music Awards and Genevieve was named National Luminary.
Photo credit: Keith Saunders