When George Deutsch from the Zelman Memorial Symphony Orchestra approached me about performing Elena Kats-Chernin’s Night and Now Flute Concerto with them again, I was delighted. This time, the concert would have an extra significance. Firstly, the overarching theme of the concert is the commemoration of the victims and survivors of the Babi Yar massacre 75 years later and secondly, it is one of flautist/conductor Mark Shiell’s last performances as Zelman’s Artistic Director. I felt very honoured to have been asked and it is an extraordinary privilege to be involved in this enormous undertaking.

Night and Now is to precede Shostakovich’s seldom performed, masterly Thirteenth Symphony Op. 113, subtitled “Babi Yar” and to follow a new work by young Australian composer Harry Sdraulig, who wrote in Resonate: “my grandmother was active in the Polish underground resistance movement, while my grandfather was held as a prisoner of war.”

Sally WalkerFlautist Sally Walker. Photo © Steven Godbee

In preparation, I visited the Melbourne Holocaust Museum, which is one of the supporters of the concert. When I was on tour with the Australian Chamber Orchestra for its Weimar Cabaret production, I...