Willoughby Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2024 Young Composer of the Year. Composer Ray Lin has been named as the award’s 20th recipient for his work Voyage of the Silk Road, which will be premiered by the orchestra and choir on 20 – 21 April at The Concourse, Chatswood.

The Award offers a cash prize of $5,000 and two premiere performances of the winning work by the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra and Choir, which are also recorded.

The 2023 recipient of the award was Klearhos Murphy. Previous winners include Emma Greenhill and Joseph Newton.

Ray Lin. Photo supplied.

Lin is a composer, conductor, arranger, orchestrator and multi-instrumentalist whose work has been performed in the US, China, New Zealand and Australia. He has written for guitarist Karin Schaupp, the Queensland Pops Orchestra, Topology, and members of New York’s Ba Ban Chinese Music Society. He was also the 2023 Composer-in-Residence for Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra.

Among his accolades are a 2020 Queensland Music Award for Contemporary Classical Song of the Year, second place at the 2021 National Youth Arranging Competition and the 2022 David Blumberg Award, from the American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers. He...