Queensland violist Henry Justo has won the 2023 Freedman Classical Fellowship, announced following a finale performance at The Neilson at ACO’s Walsh Bay home. Fellow finalists were violinist Courtenay Cleary and flautist Jonty Coy.

Jonty Coy, Courtenay Cleary and Henry Justo. Photo © Shane Rozario

Justo’s prize money will be put forward for the development of a proposed installation work called Connect. For the work, he will collaborate with composer Cathy Milliken and media artist Mike Daly about the nature of and need for human connection.

“Justo is a wonderful virtuoso on his instrument but also creates music via computer and planned a project that encompassed all that plus parallel computer-generated imagery” says Dr Richard Letts, director of The Music Trust.

This year’s judging panel comprises Head of ANU School of Music Kim Cunio, Ensemble Offspring flautist and Backstage Music founder Lamorna Nightingale, and pianist and author Simon Tedeschi.

“This year’s classical Freedman Finalists were distinctively different, containing historically informed...