I remember vividly that as a nine-year-old I wanted to be an artist. At ten I wanted to be an author. At 11 I was given a record of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto and resolved to become a clarinet player. I was allowed to play it on the stereo system in the “good room” and spent the afternoons after school lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling and wondering how Mozart knew what to write next. It seemed like one endless melody from start to finish. I was sure that if I practised for many years, I would eventually be able to play it . . .

Craig Hill

I grew up in Wagga Wagga, NSW. I was fortunate to have excellent music teachers both at school and at the newly opened Conservatorium Centre where one of the star imports was Albin Berky, a graduate of the Bratislava Conservatorium. He instituted a strict regime of technical work and impressed upon me the importance of Baroque and Bohemian folk music to the Classical style. My high school teacher, Jeff Willey, instilled a love of Mozart and set challenging composition assignments.

At the age...