Classical award recognises plenty of sax appeal, no strings attached

THE country's leading prize for emerging classical musicians and singers has been won by a saxophonist for only the second time.

Nicholas Russoniello, musician

THE country's leading prize for emerging classical musicians and singers has been won by a saxophonist for only the second time in the award's 67-year history.

Nicholas Russoniello took out the grand final of this year's ABC Symphony Australia Award for Young Performers in Brisbane at the weekend. Russoniello, 27, won the final round of the gruelling competition -- and a standing ovation -- with his rendition of Cyber-bird, Japanese composer Takashi Yoshimatsu's saxophone concerto.

Yesterday, the "exhausted" musician said his win was just starting to sink in. The young performers' award, he said, "is such a huge landmark on the classical music scene. I hope it gives me a platform or stepping stone to play more and interest more people in what I play."

The award comes with $20,000 prize money, a recording deal as well as concert gigs with symphony orchestras.

Russoniello said: "As a saxophonist it's rare to play with an orchestra at all, let alone as a soloist with a symphony orchestra."

The only other saxophonist to have won this prestigious prize, established in 1944, was Amy Dickson, in 2004.

Past award winners include pianists Roger Woodward and Simon Tedeschi, who went on to stellar careers.

This year's competition comprised four rounds, including solo performances with the Adelaide and Queensland symphony orchestras. In the final, Russoniello faced stiff competition from violinist Emily Sun and pianist Nicholas Young. But Kate Lidbetter, chief executive of Symphony Services International, which presents the award, said the saxophonist's performance was "truly outstanding".

Russoniello grew up in Wollongong in NSW and lives in Sydney. He was only eight when he begged his parents to let him give up the piano and take up the saxophone. He started out playing jazz, but later moved towards classical music and studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Russoniello won several scholarships that enabled him to study in Europe and now he performs with the ensemble Duo Histoire and the saxophone quartet Continuum Sax.