Exile, which I composed especially for Duo Sol, was commissioned by Julian Burnside, a prominent Australian barrister and human rights advocate well known for his staunch opposition to the mandatory detention of asylum seekers and his acting in major cases on behalf of Indigenous Australians.

The theme of this brief work is the age-old plight of displaced peoples. Profoundly influenced, as I composed, by the novel Sea of Many Returns by the Australian writer Arnold Zable, a friend of Julian Burnside, I tried to convey feelings associated with the mythic allure of distant places, epic sea voyages, the sea itself and nostalgia for one’s homeland. A string quartet version of Exile was jointly commissioned by Julian Burnside and his colleague Brian Walters.

Ross Edwards.