Prelude to Red Hill

Prelude to Red Hill was composed to accompany images by David Malikoff and poetry by Hilary Elfick. The project reflects on the devastating bushfires that affected Red Hill, a small rural community near my childhood home in Port Macquarie. The music traces the life of a fire — from the first spark, through raging flames, to the fading smoke.

“Starts sprite, spitting, spiteful, intrusive, greedy, slinking,
infiltrating, permeating, trickling into smallest space...

"Roars along the valley floor, sneers at stumbling oldies,
wastes the wildlife...

"Stumbles, thrashes, over-reaching, dragged down by pygmies' ropes of water...

"Crumples, lies, exposed black bones in ash bed of its making,
quivers, twitches, whimpers,
slumps, shrinks,
smoulders,
Dies."

– Excerpts from Fire by Hilary Elfick.

Recorded for digital release and premiered alongside photographs by David Malikoff and poetry by Hilary Elfick in 2016.