News: 5 September 2011

Saxophonist Nick Russoniello was awarded one of the highest honours for a young musician in Australia, the Young Performer Award. The most prestigious prize for a classical soloist has a number of rounds and earlier this year Russoniello won his instrumental category. On Saturday afternoon he performed with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra alongside finalists Nicholas Young (piano) and Emily Sun (violin), and was awarded the top prize.

Russoniello was born and raised in Wollongong where he studied at Wollongong Conservatorium of Music with Nigel Edwards (Head of Woodwind) and attended Wollongong High School for the Performing Arts. He was a member of the various ensembles including the BlueScope Steel Youth Orchestra and Conservatorium Jazz Orchestra, and was selected to perform in the Encore concert featuring the best HSC Music performances in his year. He has since gone on to study at Sydney Conservatorium of Music and Conservatorio di Musica Di Milano in Italy, and now performs as a soloist and with the ensembles Continuum Sax, The Sax Summit, and Duo Histoire.

The ABC Symphony Australia Young Performer Award is well established as one of the country’s most prestigious music prizes, and previous winners include Roger Woodward, Simon Tedeschi, Diana Doherty, and Ian Munro. This year’s finals were broadcast live on ABC Classic FM and will be screened on ABC1 later this year.

Russoniello will perform at the Conservatorium with Duo Histoire this Sunday, 11 September.

One of his former ensembles, the BlueScope Steel Youth Orchestra, celebrates its 25^th Anniversary with a concert at Wollongong Town Hall on Friday 16 September.

See www.nickrussoniello.com.au for more information about Nick Russoniello, symphonyinternational.net for more information about the Young Performer Award, or www.wollcon.com.au/events for more information about Nick Russoniello’s upcoming performance in Wollongong.