Double bass player Rohan Dasika has been named the winner of the prestigious 2019 Freedman Classical Fellowship. The $20,000 cash prize will allow the Vancouver-born, Melbourne raised musician to commission music informed by the Carnatic tradition for double bass.

Rohan Dasika. Photos © Martin Mischkulnig

One of three finalists who performed in a concert on Sunday held at the Sydney Opera House’s Utzon Room, his fellow hopefuls were violist Katie Yap and double bassist Jonathan Heilbron. Dasika secured his win by performing a version of the Bach Sonata for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord No 2 with accordionist James Crabb, alongside two solo works for double bass – Giacinto Scelsi’s Mantram and Viktor Suslin’s Morgendämmerungsmusik.

Speaking to Limelight about winning the Fellowship, Dasika said, “I’m still processing it! I’m currently sitting in Abu Dhabi airport on the way back to Frankfurt, and potentially because of the jetlag the last few days in Sydney have a pretty dream-like quality to them… I’m really glad that I was able to go through it all alongside Jon Heilbron and Katie Yap, both of whom I have known and admired for many years.”

Explaining what he intends to do with...