Pianist Organist
51-748: Piers Lane AO (born 8 January 1958) is an Australian classical pianist . Lane's English father and Australian mother met while auditioning as piano students for the Royal College of Music . Lane was born in London and he grew up in Brisbane . He graduated with a Medal of Excellence from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music , where his teacher was Nancy Weir , winning the Margaret Nickson Prize in 1978 and
102-571: A late Romantic style; his output included two symphonies , one set of symphonic variations , a piano concerto , pieces for piano , chorale preludes for organ, choral works, and art songs (in Norwegian , romanser ). Alnæs received the King's Medal of Merit ( Kongens fortjenstmedalje ) in gold in 1922, and in 1932 was appointed a Knight 1st Class in the Order of St. Olav . He died in 1932 and
153-561: A challenge to take the prime ministership in September 2015. Two months after coming into office, the new republican prime minister announced that the Queen had approved his request to amend the Order's letters patent and cease awards at this level. Existing titles would not be affected. The move was attacked by monarchists and praised by republicans. The amendments to the constitution of
204-716: A chamber player have included a Musica Viva tour of Australia with violist/composer Brett Dean and performances with Anne Sofie von Otter and Bengt Forsberg in Malmö, Stockholm and the Bergen International Festival . He continues his long-standing partnership with British violinist Tasmin Little in UK recital tours. Piers Lane is Patron of the Accompanists Guild of Queensland Inc. Since 2007, Lane
255-541: A member of the British Empire, members of the colonies and later federated nation of Australia were able to have achievement awarded under the British Imperial Honours system . However, existing criticism of the aristocratic nature of the awards grew following a cash-for-honours corruption scandal in the UK in 1922. Moves to abolish the awards federally and the states were unsuccessful; however
306-534: A representation of the states (with whom Whitlam's government was constantly in dispute) through the state badges within the Commonwealth Coat of Arms . The original three-level structure of the Order of Australia was modelled closely upon the Order of Canada , though the Order of Australia has been awarded rather more liberally, especially in regard to honorary awards to non-citizens. As of July 2024 only 30 non-Canadians have been appointed to
357-434: Is a registered charity, whose stated purpose is "[t]o celebrate and promote outstanding Australian citizenship". It also supports the "community and social activities" of members and promotes and encourages the nomination of other Australians to the Order. The Order also runs a foundation that provides scholarships to tertiary students that show potential as future leaders and are involved in community activities. Branches of
408-473: Is issued with each badge of the order at the time of investiture; AK/AD and AC lapel pins feature a citrine central jewel, AO and AM lapel pins have a blue enamelled centre and OAM lapel pins are plain. The different levels of the order are awarded according to the recipients' levels of achievement: Since 1976 any Australian citizen may nominate any person for an Order of Australia award. People who are not Australian citizens may be awarded honorary membership of
459-563: Is likely to feel a bit second-rate, and the public is likely to agree. We hate to be the first to say it, but there is no doubt that the Order of Australia (OA) will be labelled as the Ocker Award. Satire and mockery also greeted the awards, being dubbed "Gough’s Gongs" and "the Order of the Wombat". The newly elected Liberal Fraser government decided to once again make recommendations for imperial awards, whilst maintaining and expanding
510-613: Is the artistic director of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music held annually in Townsville . Lane has an extensive discography on the Hyperion label and has also recorded for EMI , Decca , BMG , Lyrita and Unicorn-Khanchana. Recent releases from Hyperion include concertos by Eyvind Alnæs and Christian Sinding , a Delius song disc with Yvonne Kenny and a recording of Ernest Bloch 's Piano Quintets with
561-455: The 2012 Queen's Birthday Honours list, Lane was named an Officer of the Order of Australia for "distinguished service to the performing arts as an internationally renowned classical pianist, to professional and cultural organisations, and to the development of emerging musicians". In April 2015, following the death of the inaugural artistic director Warren Thomson in February, Piers Lane
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#1732783939743612-687: The American Symphony Orchestra under Leon Botstein ; Beethoven's Emperor Concerto with The Queensland Orchestra , which received a Limelight Award for Best Orchestral Concert of 2007; concerto appearances with the City of Birmingham Symphony , London Philharmonic , Hallé and Ulster Orchestras ; a solo recital in Birmingham's Symphony Hall for the BBC ; a three-recital series called Metamorphoses and an all- Chopin recital at
663-488: The Australian Labor Party remained opposed and generally refused to recommend awards whilst in office, with this a part of the party's platform since 1918. This was confirmed in a resolution adopted unanimously by the party conference in 1921. However, the non-Labor parties remained supportive, with the long running Menzies government making significant use of the imperial system. The Order of Australia
714-649: The Goldner String Quartet , which was an Editor's Choice in the December 2007 Gramophone magazine and BBC Music Magazine ' s Record of the Month for February 2008. He is one of the few pianists to have recorded John Ireland 's Piano Concerto in E-flat major . In 2014 Hyperion released his recording of the complete piano concertos of Malcolm Williamson , including the world premiere recording of
765-774: The Orchestre National de France among many others. He has been soloist five times at the BBC Proms in London's Royal Albert Hall . Engagements in Australia and New Zealand during 2008 include a second national tour with Cheryl Barker and her husband baritone Peter Coleman-Wright for Musica Viva Australia , concerto performances in Christchurch and Dunedin and solo recitals in Adelaide, Auckland, Brisbane, Newcastle, Noosa and Perth. Recent collaborations as
816-692: The Tait Memorial Trust in London, a charitable foundation to support young Australian performing artists in the UK. Lane is the artistic director of the Myra Hess Day held annually at the National Gallery in London, and of the 2009 Bloch Festival at Wigmore Hall. Lane's recording of Ernest Bloch Piano Quintets Nos. 1 and 2 with the Goldner Quartet (Hyperion) was nominated for BBC Music Magazine Awards in 2009. In
867-758: The Wigmore Hall in London; and appearances in many major piano festivals in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Scandinavia. He has also played with all ABC and BBC Orchestras, the Aarhus, City of Birmingham, Bournemouth , Gothenburg and New Zealand Symphony Orchestras , the Hallé, Philharmonia , Kanazawa Ensemble and City of London Sinfonia , the London, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras and
918-474: The 435 people who have received the nation's top Order of Australia honours since they were first awarded in 1975, shows they disproportionately attended a handful of elite Victorian secondary schools. Scotch College alumni received the highest number of awards, with 19 former students receiving Australia's [then] highest honour". On 26 January 1980 the Order of Australia Association was created as an incorporated body with membership open to award recipients. It
969-477: The 4th Piano Concerto. Lane is a well-known voice on BBC Radio 3 , having written and presented more than 100 programs, including a 54-part series called The Piano . In 1994 he was made an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music , where he has been a professor of piano since 1989. In 2007 he received an honorary doctorate from Griffith University , Brisbane. Lane is patron and an active supporter of
1020-418: The Order of Australia and the award of 199 Honorary Medals of the Order of Australia. Notable honorary awards include: Since 1975, just over 30 per cent of recipients of an Order of Australia honour have been women. The number of nominations and awards for women is trending up, with the 2023 Australia Day Honours resulting in the highest percentage of awards for women to date (47.1 per cent, 47.9 per cent in
1071-597: The Order of Australia. This was done by with the addition of two additional award levels: Knight or Dame (AK or AD) above the level of Companion, and the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) below Members. The Civil Division was also renamed the General Division, so that awards could be given to those in the Defence Force for non-military achievement. These changes were made on 24 May 1976. The reaction to
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#17327839397431122-486: The Order of Canada, while 537 non-Australians have been appointed to the Order of Australia, with 46 to the Companion level. Public reaction to the new awards was mixed. Only the state Labor governments of Tasmania and South Australia agreed to submit recommendations for the new awards, with the remaining governments affirming their committent to the existing imperial honours system. Newspaper editorials similarly praised
1173-498: The Order were gazetted on 22 December 2015. Yvonne Kenny AM represented the Order at the 2023 Coronation . King Charles III , when he was Prince of Wales , was appointed a Knight of the Order of Australia (AK) on 14 March 1981. As he is not an Australian citizen, even though he was the heir to the Australian throne at the time, this would have required the award to be honorary. To overcome this issue, his appointment
1224-594: The Order would be determined by the Council of the Order of Australia. Awards of the Order of Australia are sometimes made to people who are not citizens of Australia to honour extraordinary achievements. These achievements, or the people themselves, are not necessarily associated with Australia, although they often are. On 1 July 2024, the Australian Honours website listed appointments for 46 Honorary Companions, 118 Honorary Officers, 174 Honorary Members of
1275-441: The Queen to reinstate the level of knight or dame and the Queen co-signed letters patent to bring this into effect. The change was publicly announced on 25 March, and gazetted on 17 April 2014. Up to four knights or dames could be appointed each year, by the Queen of Australia on the advice of the prime minister after consultation with the chairman of the Order of Australia Council. Five awards of knight and dame were then made, to
1326-580: The Ruby C Cooling prize in 1977 and 1978. He was later awarded an honorary doctorate by the conservatorium. He first came to prominence at the inaugural Sydney International Piano Competition in 1977, at which he was named Best Australian Pianist (he was a judge at the 2004 competition). He later studied overseas on a Churchill Fellowship . Highlights of Lane's career include a standing ovation for Busoni's Piano Concerto at Carnegie Hall in New York with
1377-471: The advice of then prime minister Gough Whitlam . Before the establishment of the order, Australians could receive British honours , which continued to be issued in parallel until 1992. Appointments to the order are made by the governor-general , "with the approval of The Sovereign", according to recommendations made by the Council for the Order of Australia . Members of the government are not involved in
1428-559: The association are in all the states and territories of Australia as well as the UK and the USA. Total inductees as of July 2024 . The order of wearing Australian and other approved honours is determined by the government. The award is parodied in the play Amigos , where the central character is determined to be awarded the AC, and uses persuasion, bribery and blackmail in his (ultimately successful) attempts to get himself nominated for
1479-502: The award to Prince Philip in a ReachTEL poll. The Australian Labor Party continued to oppose knighthoods and damehoods. Leader of the opposition Bill Shorten stated in March 2014 that the party would again discontinue the level if it were to win the next Australian federal election. The knighthood decision was a significant factor that caused Liberal party members to question Abbott's leadership, with Malcolm Turnbull succeeding in
1530-610: The award. During the 1996 season of the popular television programme Home and Away , the character Pippa Ross was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for her years of service as a foster carer. Eyvind Aln%C3%A6s Eyvind Alnæs (29 April 1872 – 24 December 1932) was a Norwegian composer , pianist , organist and choir director. Alnæs was born in Fredrikstad , as the son of headmaster Johannes Jørgen Lauritz Alnæs (1835–1916) and Elise Martine Hansen (1851–1931). He married Emilie Thorne (1882–1976) in 1903. He
1581-411: The awards as an example of Australia's greater independence, whilst also noting that the awards would likely appear second-rate. The Australian stated that There is no longer a British Empire; everyone knows that. But somehow the phrase "imperial honours" still carries a ring of regal authenticity that somehow transcends nationalism. For the time being a recipient ... of the Order of Australia
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1632-404: The centre an enamelled disc bearing an image of the coat of arms of Australia . The colours of royal blue and gold are taken from the livery colours of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms , the then national colours . The star for knights and dames is a convex golden disc decorated with citrines, with a blue royally crowned inner disc bearing an image of the coat of arms of Australia. The ribbon of
1683-519: The changes to the awards were similarly split along party lines. Following the 1983 federal election , Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke recommitted to the end of recommendations for imperial awards. No knighthoods were awarded during his first term in office and he advised the abolition of the knight/dame level after being re-elected in 1986. During the time the division was active from 1976 to 1983, twelve knights and two dames were created. On 19 March 2014, monarchist prime minister Tony Abbott advised
1734-463: The exception of awards recommended by the soon to be independent government of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea ); however this did not affect the constitutional right of state governments to recommend imperial awards. According to the governor general's then-secretary Sir David Smith , Whitlam was furious when he first saw Devlin's design for the insignia of the order, due to the inclusion of
1785-489: The general division). Advocacy groups such as Honour a Woman and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency have called for greater effort to be made to reach equal representation of men and women in the order. In December 2010, The Age reported a study of the educational backgrounds of all people who had received Knight/Dame and Companion level awards at that time. It reported: "An analysis of
1836-633: The governments of each respective state and territory, and three ex officio members (the chief of the Defence Force , the vice-president of the Federal Executive Council and a public servant responsible for honours policy). The Council chair as of August 2024 is Shelley Reys. The Council makes recommendations to the governor-general. Awards are announced on Australia Day and on the King's Birthday public holiday in June, on
1887-586: The governor-general to remove an individual from the order, who may cancel an award. Announcements of all awards, cancellations and resignations appear in the Commonwealth Gazette . Nomination forms are confidential and not covered by the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) . The reasoning behind a nomination being successful or unsuccessful—and even the attendees of the meetings where such nominations are discussed—remains confidential. As
1938-417: The occasion of a special announcement by the governor-general (usually honorary awards), and on the appointment of a new governor-general. The governor-general presents the order's insignia to new appointees. Appointments to the order may be made posthumously as long as a person was nominated for an award whilst they were still alive. Awardees may subsequently resign from the order, and the Council may advise
1989-674: The order at all levels. Nomination forms are submitted to the Director, Honours Secretariat, a position within the Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor-General of Australia , at Government House, Canberra , which are then forwarded to the Council for the Order of Australia . The council consists of 19 members: seven selected by the prime minister (described as "community representatives"), eight appointed by
2040-407: The order in descending order of seniority are: Honorary awards at all levels may be made to non-citizens. These awards are made additional to the quotas. The order's insignia was designed by Stuart Devlin . The badge of the Order of Australia is a convex disc (gold for AKs, ADs and ACs, gilt for AOs, AMs and OAMs) representing a single flower of mimosa . At the centre is a ring, representing
2091-416: The order is royal blue with a central stripe of mimosa blossoms. Awards in the military division are edged with 1.5 mm golden bands. AKs, male ACs and AOs wear their badges on a necklet and male AMs and OAMs wear them on a ribbon on the left chest. Women usually wear their badges on a bow on the left shoulder, although they may wear the same insignia as males if so desired. A gold lapel pin for daily wear
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2142-457: The outgoing governor-general , Quentin Bryce ; her successor, Peter Cosgrove ; a recent chief of the Defence Force , Angus Houston ; a recent governor of New South Wales , Marie Bashir ; and Prince Philip . This last award was widely met with ridicule and dismay by many in the Australian media. The award was also heavily criticised in the community, with 72% disapproving and 12% in favour of
2193-706: The première of his first symphony in 1896, in Berlin with Julius Ruthardt . For many years he played the organ in several churches and conducted choirs . During the years 1895-1907 he was organist at Bragernes Church in Drammen . From 1907-16 he was at Uranienborg Church in Oslo and between 1916-32 at Oslo Cathedral . He helped found the Norwegian Composer's Union ( Norsk Komponistforening ) in 1917 and served as chairman from 1921-23. Alnæs wrote music in
2244-681: The prime minister alone, rather than by the Council of the Order of Australia, as is the case with all lower levels of the order. In accordance with the statutes of 2014, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh , was created a Knight of the Order by letters patent signed by the Queen on 7 January 2015, on Abbott's advice. Prince Philip's knighthood was announced as part of the Australia Day Honours on 26 January 2015 and his appointment attracted criticism of what Abbott described as his "captain's call". Abbott responded by announcing that future recommendations for appointments as Knights and Dames of
2295-431: The recommendation of appointments, other than for military and honorary awards. The King of Australia is the sovereign head of the order, and the governor-general is the principal companion and chancellor of the order. The governor-general's official secretary , Paul Singer (appointed August 2018), is secretary of the order. The order is divided into a general and a military division. The five levels of appointment to
2346-567: The sea, with the word Australia below two branches of mimosa. The whole disc is topped by the Crown of St Edward . The AC badge is decorated with citrines , blue enamelled ring, and enamelled crown. The AO badge is similar, without the citrines. For the AM badge, only the crown is enamelled, and the OAM badge is plain. The AK/AD badge is similar to that of the AC badge, but with the difference that it contains at
2397-516: Was announced as the artistic director of the 2016 Sydney International Piano Competition . Lane won the Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award in 2022. Officer of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II , Queen of Australia , on
2448-562: Was buried at Vestre gravlund cemetery in the Frogner borough of Oslo . A number of songs by Alnæs have been recorded by the likes of Kirsten Flagstad and Feodor Chaliapin . In 2007 the first recording of Alnæs's Piano Concerto in D major, Op. 27 (published c. 1919) was released; it featured Piers Lane as the piano soloist and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Andrew Litton . In early 2010
2499-447: Was created by an amendment to the constitution of the Order of Australia by special letters patent signed by the Queen, on the recommendation of Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser . In March 2014 the knight and dame levels, which had been abolished in 1986 by Prime Minister Bob Hawke , were reintroduced to the Order of Australia by Tony Abbott . At the same time, Abbott announced that future appointments at this level would be recommended by
2550-498: Was established on 14 February 1975 by letters patent of Queen Elizabeth II , acting as Queen of Australia , and on the advice of the newly elected Labor prime minister , Gough Whitlam . The original order had three levels: Companion (AC), Officer (AO) and Member (AM) as well as two divisions: Civil Division and Military Division. Whitlam had previously announced in 1972 (on his third day in office) that his government would no longer nominate persons for British Imperial honours (with
2601-577: Was the father of author Lise Børsum , and grandfather of novelist Finn Alnæs and artist Bente Børsum . In 1888 he was enrolled at the Music and Organist School in Oslo ( Musikkonservatoriet i Oslo ). Alnæs studied piano with Westye Waaler, organ with Peter Brynie Lindeman as well as harmony, counterpoint and composition with Iver Holter . In April 1892, after Alnæs had finished his studies in Oslo, he studied in Leipzig with Carl Reinecke and, after
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