Thomas Meadowcroft is working through the sorry task of killing his darlings; trying to whittle down a collection of around 130 objects he’s amassed for a new concerto he’s written for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

“There’s too many at the moment! They’re small, but when you write for percussion, the idea is to keep it as efficient as possible. I do know these rules, but it still gets slightly out of hand,” he tells Limelight.

Thomas Meadowcroft. Photo © Nicolas Masson Eklekto

The objects featured in Meadowcroft’s new concerto, Hollywood Parsifals, will be put to use by an unusual set of soloists – two Foley artists. Foley (named after American sound effects designer Jack Foley) is the post-production art of reproducing sound effects for movies, television, audio theatre and video games. Recorded in a specialised studio, a Foley artist uses an array of objects to recreate or enhance the sounds of on-screen actions, ranging from footsteps and clothes to shattering glass and gunshots.

Just as the title character in Wagner’s opera Parsifal searches for the Holy Grail, Meadowcroft’s Parsifal finds a “noble, if seemingly crazy” quest for the right...