Connor D’Netto has been announced as the recipient of the 2022 Albert H Maggs Award. Presented as a $15,000 commission for a new work, the composer and co-director of Dots+Loops received the award for his first opera, The Call, premiered by Queensland Symphony Orchestra and soprano Ali McGregor in 2022. 

The award was established in 1967, with Nigel Butterley as its first recipient. D’Netto joins the ranks of past winners Anne Cawrse, Nigel Westlake, Lachlan Skipworth and Mary Finsterer.

“The whole process of writing The Call was immensely interesting, exciting and challenging,” says D’Netto to Limelight.

Connor D’Netto. Photo © Ray Roberts Photography.

“Ali McGregor came to me over three years ago with the concept for the opera, and since then it’s been thoroughly rewarding to work so closely with Ali, Patrick Nolan and Kate Miller-Heidke to bring the story to life from the 10-minute autobiographical podcast episode it was based on.”

The development of the work thrown into disarray by COVID....