We often think of artists as having a calling – a path they follow from childhood. However charming and poetic this idea may be, the reality is more complex and contains a balance of talent, hard work and serendipity.

Holly Harrison is one of Australia’s leading young composers, whose clear, distinctive musical voice is filled with vitality and imagination. She is highly in demand, both nationally and internationally, and her music is beloved by audiences and musicians alike. However, she didn’t set out to become a classical composer.

Holly Harrison. Photo © Steve Broadbent

Harrison’s earliest musical experiences were filled with the kind of curious contradictions that her work now celebrates. Growing up on the foothills of the Blue Mountains in NSW, music was part of everyday life.

When she was five, her older brother provided her with her first instrument. “I was horrified, because he brought home two euphoniums . . . but then I got to test one out and thought it was cool,” she says.

Two months later, Harrison joined the school band. She credits her band teacher and the school program with encouraging her earliest musical inclinations,...