Resonate Magazine | Australian Music Centre

Image: Richard Narroway  

29-year-old Melbourne cellist Richard Narroway has been announced winner of the Music Trust's 2020 Freedman Classical Fellowship, worth $20,000.

A few months ago, Richard returned to Australia after ten years of study and performances in the USA, only to find his plans to re-establish himself in Australia were interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The fellowship will enable him to set up a post-COVID national performance tour, performing Australian compositions.

The Fellowship assessment process was also disrupted by the pandemic, with the finalists (cellists Harry Ward and Richard Narroway, and violinists Grace Clifford and James Morley) now unable to compete in a public concert at the Sydney Opera House prior to the winner's announcement. Instead, the finalists were assessed on their submitted recordings and proposed projects, as well as on live interviews via video conference.

Richard Narroway's planned tour will feature no fewer than ten Australian works for solo cello, some of them specially commissioned, and some existing works by composers such as Elena Kats-Chernin, Ross Edwards, Peter Sculthorpe, and Carl Vine.

Jury member Roland Peelman, Director of the Canberra International Music Festival, observed, 'As always, the Freedman fellowship draws in exceptional musicians at the beginning of a big career. This year's Fellowship process, affected by COVID-19, border closures and lock downs, did not fail to draw out some big ideas about music, renewal and audience engagement. Music's agency in the social fabric of society, its community impact and untold potential in creating a better world were at the forefront of this year's proposals like never before.'

> For more information, see the news article on the Music Trust website.