The idea for Sapiens was sparked after reading Yuval Noah Harari's books Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind and Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. In Sapiens Harari takes the reader on a 200,000 year journey as he makes sense of how our foraging ancestors came together to create cities and kingdoms, gods, nations and human rights. In Homo Deus he asks the fundamental question: where do we go from here?

The books inspired me to use Harari’s concepts as starting points for new musical ideas. But my piece is not a simple depiction of the books. Rather, it is a response to some of the wonderful stories Harari tells whilst also having its own musical tales to share.