RUMI
AT A GLANCE: The Innocents
Genre: Orchestral
Date Composed: 2025
For: Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, French horn soloist Gregory Stephens
Premiere performance of ‘The Innocents’ french horn concerto composed by Fiona Hill. Soloist, Gregory Stephens. Conductor, Simon Reade. Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Federation Hall, Hobart, Tasmania. 3rd October 2025.
There is a lot wrapped up in the title of this work ‘The Innocents’. The natural world and ecosystems being destroyed by human impact, the loss of children’s lives both on our doorstep and in the genocides which continue to happen on this planet.
As I composed this work, I spent days, which accumulated into weeks, in a sit spot near my home on Dharug Gundungurra land. During winter the calls of the lyrebirds can be heard all the way through the landscape, echoing down the gully.
I was mesmerised by the life that exists around the rocks and trees, making themselves known at certain times of day. The insects, shimmering, trapped in spiders’ webs under the rocks I discovered when I started to look more deeply into the magic of this place.
I have no answers for the tragic and incomprehensible loss of innocent human lives and the more than human world that surrounds us.
I hope that this piece can go some way to expressing the anguish of the planet that we all share.
What would the world be like if we could all learn to truly listen?
To ourselves, each other and our mother earth.
