Mullum muso Michael Askill has been honoured by the Percussive Arts Society with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in the industry.
Michael is a percussionist, composer, musical director, musical ambassador and educator. He is an icon of Australian music, known and admired for his enduring contribution to the music landscape and his blending of Asian and Western sounds.
Askill was honoured last Thursday evening at a ceremony in Brisbane – the Lifetime Achievement Award was presented by Dr Vanessa Tomlinson, Head of Percussion at Queensland Conservatorium, who acknowledged Askill’s long and distinguished career before an audience of teachers and percussion students from around Australia and distinguished visiting international percussionists.
Michael says that artists can often feel isolated and unnoticed since much of their work is prepared behind the scenes or in the studio and performance is so ephemeral. ‘I was humbled and honoured to be acknowledged by my peers for the work I have done over the past 45 years,’ he said
Before embarking on a successful independent career, Michael Askill was Principal Timpanist with the Melbourne Symphony and then Principal Percussionist with the Sydney Symphony. His artistic collaboration with one of Australia’s most highly respected choreographers, Graeme Murphy, resulted in a number of ballets for Sydney Dance Company including Free Radicals, Salome, Air and Other Invisible Forces and a collaboration with Shanghai Song and Dance Company, Hua Mulan.
Askill, who this year was awarded a PhD in composition from the University of Queensland, is currently touring his Gong Garden project, preparing to perform at the Bangalow Music Festival and developing a new recording project with Durbeck and Dohmen, two leading film composers and studio musicians from Cologne who met Michael while he was touring last year in Europe.
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