Leonard Weiss has been announced as the first ever recipient of a brand-new fellowship aimed at fostering greater links between budding conductors and youth music-making in New South Wales. Supported by Create NSW, the Sydney Youth Orchestras’ Conductor NSW Orchestral (Early Career) Fellowship brings Weiss an award of $30,000 which will enable him to undertake a broad range of professional development opportunities over the coming 12 months.

Leonard Weiss

Leonard Weiss. Photo © William Hall

“I am humbled and tremendously excited to be awarded this fellowship with Sydney Youth Orchestras,” says Weiss. “SYO has one of the richest networks of artistic staff in the country, and the success of their programs are evident in an extensive alumni network of leading professional musicians.”

Weiss, who has recently returned to Australia following a period of study with Marin Alsop at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, has been on an upward trajectory over the past five years. He was named the 2016 Young Canberra Citizen of the Year for Youth Arts and Multimedia, he was an ACT Finalist for the 2016 Young Australian of the Year, and that same year he...