Sydney Symphony Orchestra 2025 fellows announced

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The Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO) has announced its 2025 fellows. Within the group of twelve, five are string players: violinists Liam Pilgrim and Natalie Mavridis, violist Ariel Postmus, bassist Harry Young, and cellist Noah Lawrence. As part of the programme, the musicians will receive intensive training such as masterclasses with renowned musicians, mentorship from SSO musicians and performance opportunities in a range of musical styles. 

’The Fellowship is the vital final bridge between learning and professional life for these young musicians,’ says the SSO’s director of learning and engagement John Nolan. ’The experience of playing in a professional symphony orchestra with the support of our wonderful musician mentors is the perfect training ground for the orchestral musicians of the future.’

Originally from Perth, violist Ariel Postmus is a graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performance Arts (WAAPA), as well as the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) in Melbourne, where she studied from 2021 to 2023. She has performed with the Australian String Quartet, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia, West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (TSO), Orchestra Victoria, Victorian Opera and members of the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO). She most recently held a six-month contract with the TSO and toured with Opera Australia. In 2023, Postmus’s chamber ensemble was awarded the Ursula Hoff Award for Most Outstanding Chamber Music Performance. She also won the ROSL Bach Prize in 2018 and 2022, the 2019 ROSL Chamber Competition, and was a finalist in WAAPA’s Concerto Competition in 2020. 

Cellist Noah Lawrence is originally from Bendigo, and studied with Howard Penny at ANAM. He has performed alongside top Australian orchestras and as a chamber musician and soloist at the Bendigo Chamber Festival and Port Fairy Spring Festival. In 2024, Lawrence was principal cello of the Australian Youth Orchestra. 

Hailing from Toowoomba, bassist Harry Young currently studies at the Sydney Conservatorium with Alex Henery. He has played regularly in the Australian Youth Orchestra, toured with the Sydney Conservatorium’s orchestra in Europe and has performed with Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra. As a composer, his music for bass ensembles has been commissioned by the Big Brisbane and Toowoomba Bass Day. 

Violinist Liam Pilgrim studied with Elizabeth Layton at Adelaide’s Elder Conservatorium, before learning from both Zoë Black and Adam Chalabi at ANAM in 2022, while also studying chamber music with Sophie Rowell. He has received masterclasses from the Brodsky Quartet, Thomas Carroll and Matthew Jones, and has performed with some of Australia’s leading orchestras, including the SSO’s performance of Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder in 2024. 

Violinist Natalie Mavridis is a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. In 2024, she graduated from ANAM under Zoë Black and Adam Chalabi. She has toured with the ACO and performed in chamber ensembles with ACO principal cellist Timo-Veikko Valve and Lawrence Power. She has also performed with the Melbourne, Tasmanian, and West Australian symphony orchestras. At the end of her studies at ANAM, Natalie was awarded the Gwen Nisbet Music Scholarship. She was an ACO Emerging Artist in 2024, under the mentorship of ACO principal violin Helena Rathbone.

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