This weekend, one of the most ambitious commissioning projects in Australian history will take over Melbourne’s Abbotsford Convent. The ANAM Set is a series of 67 works by Australian composers, who were commissioned to write a six- to eight-minute piece of music for each of the 67 musicians training at the Australian National Academy of Music in 2021.

This week, Limelight will feature the stories of five pairs of composers and performers, learning more about their work, their process of collaboration, and what they learned about themselves – and each other – through this process. Today we look at composer Anne Cawrse and her piece Ruby, written for clarinettist Clare Fox.

Anne Cawrse, whose work <i>Ruby</i> will be performed as part of <i>The ANAM Set</i>.

Anne Cawrse, whose work Ruby will be performed as part of The ANAM Set.

What does this project mean to you?

Anne Cawrse: To be selected to take part was rather special – there are a great number of excellent composers in Australia at present, and while The ANAM Set is the largest, most wide-reaching mass commissioning project I’ve heard of, even a project of this...