Pianist and composer Tony Gould is one of Australia’s most respected musicians who already has an Order of Australia for his services to music and education. But he is “shocked and surprised” to be awarded the country’s most valuable individual music prize.
He will be presented with the $60,000 Don Banks Music Award by the Australia Council at a ceremony in Melbourne tonight. “I think I’m the luckiest person alive,” he says, then adds laughing, “But I think you need to have lived quite a few years to get it.”
He hopes to use the money for his own projects and regards it as an investment in Australian music. “It’s unthinkable that I would go and splurge it,” he says. “I’m not on a full-time salary, so it will certainly help.”
Gould has been involved in many recording projects, both as pianist and composer, for the past three years. Before that he was at the forefront of music education in Australia for 30 years. He was at the Victorian College of the Arts for more than 20 years until he resigned in 2005 to concentrate on playing and composing.
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