Pianist Coady Green tells Limelight about the new Australian work he commissioned from Dr Linda Kouvaras – the Herring Island Piano Sonata for piano, recorded sound and narrator. It is the result of a collaboration between composer, pianist and sound designer Dr Roger Alsop, together with two leading Indigenous artists, N’arweet Dr Carolyn Briggs and Tiriki Onus, Head of the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development, who will narrate text written by Briggs.

Herring Island. Photo supplied

Situated in the Birrarung (Yarra River), a three-kilometre distance from Melbourne’s CBD and shouldering the Parish of Jika Jika and the suburbs of Toorak and Prahran, the human-made Herring Island is a landmark that takes many by surprise. Hidden by strips of parkland, hugging loops of freeway, most motorists would not be aware of its presence in the waters beyond their cars. This is a hidden gem in Melbourne’s waterways – a little island packed with native vegetation – river red gum around the perimeter, with a dense thicket of silver wattle, manna gum, drooping sheaoke, southern mahogany, wallaby and speargrass, and native lilies and daisies. It’s an island devoted...