How did you feel when you heard the Festival of Voices was planning a musical celebration to honour you?

For me to be nominated for such a celebration was totally unexpected, so I initially felt stunned, overwhelmed, privileged, thrilled and apprehensive in quick succession. The apprehension was caused by the main work to be performed, Conflagration, having yet to prove its worthiness through its premiere.

Don Kay

Don Kay. Photo © John Honey.

I imagine the two works to be performed – Conflagration and Songs of Come and Gone – are very different?

Songs of Come and Gone, my very first published work in England, was composed in my mid-20s. I used texts of five well-known English and one Irish poet – I’d yet to properly discover Australian poets! I had young singers in mind, which guided my text choices. Conflagration, on the other hand, is fashioned for adult performers: SATB soloists, mixed chorus, two pianos and six percussionists. It is a major work of 35 to 40 minutes, twice the duration of Songs of Come and Gone. The musical language for Conflagration is the result of an added 60...