For Chris Latham's achievement in taking Canberra-based research and world–class musical prowess into the international arena: Flowers of War: 1917 –The Night Is Darkest before the Dawn; at the High Court of Australia on November 8, 2017.

In the third and final of the 2017 Flowers of War series, Latham brought together an ensemble of exceptional musicians to perform a perfectly balanced program of works from World War I and newly composed works. Those playing were Timothy Young, piano; Louise Page, soprano; Christina Wilson, mezzo; Paul Goodchild, trumpet; Timothy Brigden, percussion; and the Sculthorpe String Quartet: Veronique Serret, violin; Chris Latham, violin; James Wannan, viola and David Pereira, cello. No space could have been better suited to the emotional gravity and acoustic requirements of the repertoire than the High Court of Australia.

Representing new hope in the next chapter of the ANU School of Music: Friends of the School of music present Mike Cheng-Yu Lee, Larry Sitsky Recital Room, ANU School of Music on Friday, November, 17.

Lee introduced each work, performing the repertoire from memory with the familiarity of someone who has absorbed the music into his own identity. His style is exquisitely economical; exactly the right amount of energy is expended to recreate the dynamic variation and ornamentation suggested within the score. As only an expert can, Lee drew us inside the music; into a lived experience of the musical ideas expressed by Beethoven and Schumann.

A concert to demonstrate how a musical master brings the wisdom of age to a performance: On Wednesday, August 23, at the Wesley Music Centre, the audience heard Larry Sitsky, an eminent pianist and composer with a lifetime's experience, recreate the lost musical world of Anton Rubinstein. At 82, Sitsky embodies the principle that rigorous musical education lasts a lifetime and he performed the demanding program with exceptional articulation and true romantic extravagance.

Two concerts revealing how a serendipitous meeting of musicians can produce musical miracles: On Tuesday, August 22, at at the Ainslie Arts Centre, the youthful Kristian Winther, violin; Ioana Tache, violin; Alexina Hawkins, viola; and Thomas Marlin, cello; gave a concert titled be:longing/Shostakovich playing music by Purcell and Tchaikovsky (with guests David Pereira and Tor Fromyhr) culminating in a breathtaking performance of Dmitri Shostakovich's Third String Quartet. The air was electric with the focus of the young musicians and the united desire to play fine music together as one. And Concert 11, The Velvet Revolution – from Prague to Berlin in the Canberra International Music Festival on May 2 – in particular, Sonya Lifschitz's thrilling performance on the piano in The Velvet Revolution Trio for violin, horn and piano by Elena Kats-Chernin.

Concerts representing the best of ensemble playing: Musica Viva International Concert Season 2017 – Eighth Blackbird – Llewellyn Hall, Thursday, February 23. Eighth Blackbird is committed to moving music forward through innovative performance, to advocate for new music by living composers and create a legacy of guiding an emerging generation of musicians. Their warm on-stage manner is matched by their fine attention to technical detail.

And equal fifth: Murder and Redemption – Pekka Kuusisto and Sam Amidon with the Australian Chamber Orchestra at Llewellyn Hall on Saturday, February 4. Divided into two parts – music describing death and hopelessness and music describing redemption and regeneration – the repertoire interweaves art music and folk music expertly, alternating Janacek's Quartet No 1 with solo sung ballads to take the audience on a journey through despair and hope into a hypnotic space of equanimity created by John Adams' Shaker Loops. Leading the way along the musical path was young American singer Sam Amidon, whose raw vocal clarity in collaboration with Nico Muhly's exceptional instrumental arrangements kept shivers running up and down the spine throughout.