Your new release, Don’t Forget Your Music!, is inspired by the 2016 Rio Olympics. Are there similarities between sport and music? How did you come up with the title?

We often think sport and art are like oil and water, but musicians and sportspeople have much in common: they need to fully dedicate themselves to their craft, usually with recurring, challenging practice/training regimens over successive years leading to ‘performances’. This intrigued me and seemed like the perfect departure for Don’t Forget Your Music!, commissioned by the Bangalow Music Festival featuring the Southern Cross Soloists.

The grit and passion of Latin American music crossed with finely honed chamber music detailing seemed destined to be something that a virtuoso musician could really get their musical teeth into.

The title, Don’t Forget Your Music! is a little bit of humour from me to the musicians – it almost dares them to try to play the piece without the safety net of sheet music (which I’m sure they could absolutely do, probably even blindfolded) but it’s to convey that this piece is a challenge and they’ve got to pull up their sleeves in taking the audience on the thrill to the finish line!