Canberra composer Sally Greenaway was studying at the Royal College of Music in London and feeling very homesick when the Woden Valley Youth Choir contacted her in 2010.
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"They asked me, 'Do you have a Christmas carol?' and I said, 'No, I don't have one and they commissioned me to write one."
She wanted it to be a very Australian carol and collaborated with lyricist Tanya Kiermaier by email and internet to produce A Touch of Christmas with lines including "It's Christmas time and Summer's in the air, with humming grasslands that sway amid the breeze..."
In its initial piano-and-treble-voice arrangement it had a jazzy Latin pop feel but when the Canberra Symphony Orchestra asked her to rearrange it for their first Christmas concert, she said, "it became a completely different take on the song ... It now sounds more like film music, and magical."
She enjoyed the opportunity to give certain players in the orchestra she knew their own special moments to perform.
This new arrangement - which includes featured parts for such instruments as harp, glockenspiel, and violin and sounds "a little bit Disney" - will have its premiere at the CSO Christmas concerts on Saturday at 2 and 7.30pm.
She didn't have much time to work on the arrangement - "I did it in a week" - but she is able to work fast when necessary.
"I just did a film score, Locks of Love, in two weeks."
Greenaway was very pleased and proud to have her work showcased by her hometown orchestra and noted it was a rare opportunity for a contemporary Australian female composer. She said Australian orchestras tended not to program Australian music except by a few very established names and hoped they would be able to find the time and money to put into lesser-known composers like herself.
"It would be fantastic if there were a way for something like this to be able to continue and be available in the future."
