In 2011 it came to my attention that the University of California at Los Angeles had offered two friends of mine the chance to share a concert — the percussionist Evelyn Glennie and the cellist Maya Beiser, both of whom I have worked with quite a lot. What seemed strange to me was that UCLA had proposed that they split the concert, with each of them taking a half, separately. Both these women are fearless advocates of new music and it seemed like an historic event to have them on the same stage at the same time, so I offered to write them a piece they could play together. My idea of togetherness went so far as to ask Evelyn to use the cello as a percussion instrument, sitting next to Maya, imagining them sitting together, like twins, united in their movements and gestures, playing completely in unison.
