Who can resist the allure of the harp? Many composers have fallen under its spell and I’m one of them. I’ve found writing for it a challenging but most rewarding experience. At 7.30 pm on Sunday 20 July, in the Sydney Town Hall, the Seven Harp Ensemble and didjeridu virtuoso William Barton will premiere my new Harp Mantras to open the World Harp Congress.

Harpists are always ready with advice. It’s in their interests to educate composers. They will come up to you after orchestral rehearsals of your music and point out how a chord might be made more sonorous or a phrase more playable. I always appreciate this. Perhaps the best lesson I’ve had in harp writing came from Marshall McGuire, who transcribed for harp and – later performed – the solo part of my guitar concerto Arafura Dances. After that I felt confident enough to compose a solo work for Marshall: The Harp and the Moon, and this has also been taken up by Genevieve Lang Huppert who’s a member of SHE.

SHE, Australia’s unique Seven Harp Ensemble, is made up of graduates of the Australian National University under the direction of world renowned harpist Alice Giles. SHE has toured widely in Australia and overseas. I first heard them perform in the excellent acoustic of the Kangaroo Valley village hall in a diverse program of works some of which were commissioned from Australian composers, including local residents Martin and Peter Wesley-Smith. The repertoire for seven harps is understandably limited, but growing. To this concert I contributed an arrangement of my Arafura Arioso.

It was a magical night. The music was presented with flair and imagination. The seven instruments were ranged across the platform and I was particularly impressed by the way they were lit. Helen and I had snuck our dog into the hall and he too was captivated by the atmosphere and uttered not a peep.

Lighting has always been important to me and many of my scores, especially orchestral ones, have lighting and other stage directions. When SHE asked me to compose a work to open the World Harp Congress, we agreed that I should produce something numinous – a meditation – that might gradually draw people in, the harp not being suited to festival-opening fanfares. The warm Town Hall acoustic will be sympathetic to such a work, for which we’ll also devise appropriate lighting.

On this occasion, William Barton will join the ensemble. Seven harps and didjeridu has to be a first! I’ve worked with William many times. He often performs in my other ‘mantra’ pieces, Dawn Mantras and Tyalgum Mantras. He does his own thing which is never less than brilliantly inventive, and which has the effect of ‘earthing’ my music. It’s going to be a challenge for us all, but an exciting one!

Ross Edwards