Musica Viva Australia has named Melbourne-based violist and composer Matthew Laing as the new Musica Viva FutureMaker for 2022-23. Laing will be joining the 2020-22 FutureMakers the Partridge String Quartet, whose program has been extended due to being disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Matthew Laing. Photo Supplied.

Musica Viva’s FutureMakers program provides intensive training and networking opportunities for musicians who represent “Australia’s music leaders of tomorrow”, aiming to support and enable exceptional young musicians early in their careers. As part of the two-year program, participants are encouraged to create ambitious full-length performance projects. Past members of the program include Arcadia Winds, pianist Aura Go, and violinist Harry Ward.

Musica Viva’s Artistic Director Paul Kildea said, “There are two qualities I look for in the young musicians Musica Viva mentors as part of its FutureMakers program: a certain fearlessness and widespread peer respect. Violist and composer Matt Laing and the Partridge String Quartet have these qualities in spades. It is a delight and privilege to plot and plan with them their emerging careers, conscious that these plans will have a huge impact on Australia’s cultural landscape for...