James Armstrong, the 19-year old principal second violin of Sydney Youth Orchestras’ Flagship Orchestra, has won the SYO’s inaugural Austria Scholarship, thanks to which he will spend three weeks in Vienna and Salzburg in January, courtesy of the Austrian National Tourist Office.

The scholarship was announced at the Chair’s Gala Dinner on Friday August 16, hosted by SYO Chair Jan Bowen.

Astrid Mulholland-Licht, James Armstrong and Jan Bowen. Photograph © Ruari Campbell

Now 19, Armstrong has been playing with SYO since he was 14. A former student of St Aloysius’ College, Sydney, where he was the Captain of Music and Concertmaster of the orchestra and chamber orchestra, he is currently in his first year studying a Bachelor of Music Performance under Ms Janet Davies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He began learning the violin at age 11. He first joined the SYO family in 2014, playing flute in the Symphonic Wind Orchestra. The following year he became the associate concertmaster of the Sydney Youth Orchestra Philharmonic, before joining the ranks of the SYO Flagship Orchestra in 2016. He has performed as a soloist with the Symphonic Wind Orchestra and the Western Sydney Youth...