Renowned Kalkadunga man William Barton is set to be the youngest person and first Indigenous artist to receive the prestigious Richard Gill Award for distinguished service to Australian music.

Joining a list of highly acclaimed former recipients, all who have contributed to the field of music in predominantly classical and jazz genres, Mr Barton has earned his place among the greats and now stands alongside his mentor for ten years, the legendary and late Mr Peter Sculthorpe.

The award will be presented at this year's 2023 Art Music Awards where Barton will perform alongside Veronique Serret, Sam Anning, Matthew Hoy and his mother Aunty Delmae Barton.

"It's quite special to be recognised for my contributions to the Australian music industry," Mr Barton said.

"At this time in my life it's about acknowledging and sharing my success with my community of the Kalkadunga Nation of Mt Isa region and with my brothers and sisters across the nation whatever profession they may work in or are a part of."

Mr Barton said the didgeridoo was always around him as a child.

When he was seven or eight years old, he felt it was something he really wanted to play and connect with through the spirit of the uncles and the uncle that taught him, Uncle Arthur Peterson.

"I wanted to be a part of the magic and the feeling that the instrument gave you, you know, being played and being a part of the Australian landscape," Mr Barton said.

"Even if you don't know what that is at the time you know, it's something that's passed on through those generations of song lines of a pure form and how significant that is to all nations in the world."

Coming from a musical family, Mr Barton was brought up around music and started performing with his mother as a young child.

Now a highly talented musician, he also plays guitar and piano.

He said along with the didgeridoo and the human voice, these are instruments he can also compose on during his creative process.

"It's important to have a grasp on other instruments, I believe it makes you a better composer but also musician as well," Mr Barton said.

"Understanding the language of the other instruments is important."

Mr Barton describes his creative process and how he draws inspiration from his environment and the earth around him as interpreting visual aesthetics with sound.

"I'm very fortunate to work in that classical realm, with classical instruments where I see that as a true sonic force to reinterpret the Australian landscape with the right intention," he said.

"But also paying respect and homage to the legacy that has always been here.

"The inspiration always comes from country and the universe, you know, beyond our stars."

Mr Barton said when people listen to his music he hopes it takes them to "a place, a safe place where they can connect to their song lines".

"It doesn't matter what cultural background you are from. We all have connection to the earth. Some have a more in tune connection than others and that's all for us to share," he said.

Mr Barton told National Indigenous Times he wrote his favourite composition as a teenager.

"I would say something that has travelled with me my whole life is not only the intuitive lullabies of my people, the ancestors and the earth, but a song that I actually wrote in my early teens and it's called Kalkadunga Yurdu which means Kalkadunga man, which is actually a tribute to my people."

This song was then further developed, with a co-written symphony with Matthew Hineson, premiering with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 2006.

The music is composed to tell the story of the battle of Kalkadungu people's fight against the first European settlers.

For a man that has toured the world, a highlight of his career includes an event that celebrated the reopening of the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall performing his composition Of the Earth.

"I got permission to go into the opera house when it was still under construction," he said.

"In the concert hall, I touched the ceiling and there was all this wood there."

He asked if he could have some floorboards of the old concert hall and these were then turned into sixty to eighty clapsticks for the Indigenous children's choir to perform in his new piece at the Sydney Opera House with the Sydney orchestra.

"Those clapsticks are a significant because I got four brothers from Indigenous and non-Indigenous backgrounds to create these clapsticks for the future of the children and it was the whole conceptualisation of my theme, in a nutshell that was Of The Earth," he said.

Mr Barton said when he performs it can occasionally be static, but that he has to 'intention it' sometimes.

"So your intention to connect to the audience or a person in the audience and take them on that journey," he said.

"It's an elevating feeling of connection in that moment, because you want to connect with people to create that safe space."

Mr Barton said through the process of connecting with culture and land "You will overcome great obstacles in life".

"It's important to reach out and be connected to our Elders and pay acknowledgement to the Elders who have done a considerable huge amount of hard work over years to create that safe space where we are now as Indigenous people," he said.

"People like my Mum, my Dad, my uncles and aunties throughout Australia, they paved the way and so it's in the moment in 2023 and beyond its up to us to pay homage to that and pay homage to learning our language and really amplifying it within the community."

After he is presented with the Richard Gill Award at the Australian Music Awards later this month, a humble Mr Barton will continue on a busy schedule throughout August, which includes performances in Hawaii and at the Northern Territory's Garma Festival.

Yet with all his awards and worldwide recognition, performing with his mother overseas on her 70th birthday remains a career highlight.

He remembers being alongside her on stage from a very young age.

"It's very special, its' something I will always cherish," he said.

"We have to keep singing our song lines as Indigenous people."