On a chilly July evening last year, I made the three-and-a-bit hour drive from Sydney to Canberra. My destination was the National Museum of Australia, where I would hear the Canberra Symphony Orchestra’s Chamber Ensemble perform my mixed quintet Speak in an intriguing program of contemporary Australian music entitled Collective Memory. Though I didn’t know it at the time, in the audience were Gisela Püllen and Karl Gordon, a couple of passionate music-lovers from Canberra who had been long-term supporters of their local CSO. 

I didn’t get the chance to meet Gisela and Karl that night. But a few weeks later, the CSO team got in touch. Gisela and Karl had heard and enjoyed Speak, and were discussing a new commission with the CSO’s Andy Baird and Sally Walker. Would I be interested in writing a brand new piece, this time featuring the full orchestral forces of the CSO and a cello soloist? I loved the idea. I’d always been drawn to the expressive range and lyrical potential of the cello, and had already enjoyed writing works for Yo-Yo Ma, Umberto Clerici, and my sister Eliza Sdraulig. This time, the soloist would be Patrick Suthers – a senior public...