Sydney clarinettist Oliver Shermacher has been named the winner of the 2018 Freedman Classical Fellowship. He receives a $20,000 cash prize which will see him undertake his proposed career-enhancing project – Shermacher will commission Australian composer Alice Chance, in consultation with director Julia Robertson, to write a substantial work for solo clarinet. He intends to tour the work in Australia, New Zealand and Germany in a recital featuring movement, visual effects and spoken word.

“I feel absolutely honoured to have been selected as the 2018 Freedman Fellow,” Shermacher told Limelight. “It seems surreal to be joining the incredible lineage of performers that this Fellowship has produced, and I’m so looking forward to creating and sharing my project over the coming months.”

“This Fellowship is going to allow me to realise my potential as a performer and artist, and will facilitate the realisation of all of the unusual ideas I have always had but been too afraid or too constrained by finances to share,” he added. “It’s a confirmation that classical music is constantly evolving, and I’m so excited to be able to contribute my own creative efforts into the development and growth of Australian music.”

Oliver...