Visions of Home (2025)

Instrumentation: 

String Orchestra (4.3.2.2.1) 

Duration ca. 10' 00" 

Movements: 

I. Haiku 

II. Sanctuary 

III. Nostalgia 

IV. Rollercoaster 

This work was commissioned by Steel City Strings (2025) for their 2026 concert program Home. 

About the Work: These four miniatures (or ‘visions’) are based on different perceptions of home collected from members Steel City Strings. In early 2025, I asked the musicians to provide me with a word or phrase that describes where they feel at home, with the idea to use at least a few of these to inform my miniatures. The responses received were highly detailed and varied. I decided to consider the themes and ideas that they dealt with, many of which were common across multiple responses. In settling on the final ideas behind each miniature, I also decided to consider elements that were unique and special to some of our shared experiences in Australia. Each movement is accompanied on the score by a short epigraph, sourced from responses I received. 

The first movement is based on the following Haiku I received: 

So tired longing 

Freedom within walls awaits

 My home is myself 

Sanctuary deals with Australia’s unique landscapes and bush environments and is filled with real and imagined birdsong (like those of the whipbird, and seagull). The movement also suggests possible tentativeness; both in treading on land that for most of us isn’t our own, and out of care not to leave a trace or disturb it. Sanctuary ends with an arrival at the coast, marked by air noises and seagull calls. 

This is followed by Nostalgia, inspired by the fact that for many of us, home was (and for some still is) a place in a far distant land, one that we may miss from time to time. Indeed, we are a country where many of us were at some point migrants. Finally, Rollercoaster acknowledges the ups and downs of home: the good, the not so good, and the exciting. My hope is that this work is one that many audience members, and members of Steel City Strings can feel a strong connection to in some way. 

© Adriel Sukumar 2025 

I would like to acknowledge and thank the following people whose highly detailed and thought provoking responses helped bring this work to life: 

Adrian Davis, Monique Ziegelaar, Kate Malone, Louisa Lovasz, Catherine Barnett, Emily Cavey, Jules McCue, Len Fairclough