The Freedman Jazz Fellowship has been awarded to Sydney-based trumpeter and composer, Tom Avgenicos.

Avgenicos performed at a sold-out concert at the Sydney Opera House for the first Fellowship performance in two years, alongside finalists saxophonist Flora Carbo and drummer Holly Conner.

Tom Avgenicos, winner of the 2022 Freedman Jazz Fellowship, with finalists Holly Conner and Flora Carbo. Photo © Karl Schwerdtfeger

The judging panel consisted of Sydney Conservatorium Jazz lecturers Steve Barry and Virna Sanzone, and Macquarie University lecturer and saxophonist Andrew Robson, who received the Fellowship himself in 2003. Speaking to the quality of this year’s candidates, the judges said: “The three finalists each presented incredibly sophisticated programs of original music, which they performed with conviction and creativity. Each finalist displayed a highly developed musical language that is pushing the music in new and exciting directions.”

Avgenicos received the Fellowship after his performance of three original works, Detached, I’ll Go Where You Go and Stymie. These pieces will become a part of his upcoming Freedman project, Ghosts Between Streams. An...