This year’s hopefuls have submitted proposals that look to take classical music in fresh directions.

Eight nominees have been announced for the prestigious Freedman Classical Fellowship for 2017, which awards one classical instrumentalist of up to 30 years of age $20,000 to undertake a career-enhancing creative project.

The nominees this year are a diverse bunch, with bassoonist Matthew Kneale, flautist Tamara Kohler, double bassist Jaan Pallandi, pianist Alex Raineri, percussionist Thea Rossen, double bassist Phoebe Russell, violinist Emily Sheppard, and violist Katie Yap hoping to make it through to the finals. Three will be chosen to perform at a concert on September 9 in Sydney’s Eugene Goossens Hall, with the full concert and announcement of the winner broadcast live on ABC Classic FM.

The project proposals submitted by the nominees are refreshingly varied, taking in music videos and performance art crossovers, to new commissions and international tours. Topics as diverse as climate change, the Tasmanian wilderness, marital roles, and Baroque improvisation are in the mix.

Kneale has proposed an international concert tour that centres on the bassoon as a solo and chamber entity in its own right, performing repertoire such as Australian Holly Harrison’s new work for bassoon and string quartet...