For much of her career, composer and pianist Sally Greenaway seemed almost incapable of standing still.

Writing for orchestras, jazz ensembles, chamber groups and film, she built a reputation as one of Australia’s most versatile musical voices, collecting awards and commissions while teaching, conducting and performing.

Then long COVID stopped everything. The illness – later diagnosed as long COVID dementia – robbed Greenaway of every ounce of her energy and affected every aspect of her musicianship. 

“I couldn’t even name the notes on the piano,” Greenaway recalls. “I couldn’t read music. I remember trying to finish a piano trio that I’d been commissioned to write. My husband helped me downstairs into my music room and helped me onto the piano stool. I’d sit there looking at the keys, crying, because I had no idea what the notes were.” 

The composer whose imagination had once flowed found herself creatively blocked, unable to compose, unable to play.

“At its worst, I needed full-time care. I couldn’t speak properly,” she tells Limelight. “I couldn’t even sit up in bed without assistance. It felt like whole filing cabinets in my brain had just disappeared.”

Sally Greenaway....