The Diggers' Requiem - Canberra
Oct
6
7:30 PM19:30

The Diggers' Requiem - Canberra

  • Llewellyn Hall - ANU School of Music (map)
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Jointly commissioned by the Australian War Memorial and the Department of Veterans' Affairs.

Australian Premiere

The Diggers’ Requiem is a moving and beautiful Australian tribute to the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One. The newly formed Australian War Memorial Orchestra and Choir along with members of the Band of the Royal Military College Duntroon, will be directed by Christopher Latham.

Diggers-Requiem_DL_2018_FA_lr_cover.jpg

The Requiem represents - in 12 movements - the battles of Fromelles, Pozières, Bapaume, Bullecourt, Villers-Bretonneux, Hamel, Amiens, Péronne and Mont Saint-Quentin, Bellenglise, Montbrehain, Ypres and Passchendaele in Belgium. It refers to death of the Red Baron and the charge of Beersheba in Palestine, which was the last great charge of cavalry. 62,000 bells representing each Australian who died are incorporated into the last movement, Lux Aeterna.

The different movements were written by some of the greatest Australian contemporary composers, as well as the recently discovered Frederick Septimus Kelly, who died at Beaumon-Hamel in 1916. His Lament of the Somme, which evokes the Battle of Pozières, near Albert, was written just two weeks before his death. Elena Kats-Chernin, who finished writing her piece last year, will evoke the battle of Bullecourt in the Pas-de-Calais. Alex Lithgow who wrote the stirring Victoria March, which was played by the Australian Army as it marched into Bapaume in 1917, has his work incorporated into Nigel Westlake’s the Glass Soldier, a piece for trumpet and orchestra. A lone piper plays a lament by Pipe-Major John Grant in the last movement.

This extraordinary symphonic work was devised and curated by Christopher Latham, Artistic Director of the Flowers of War project, and the first musical artist-in-residence at the Australian War Memorial.

PROGRAM

  • Overture: Elena Kats-Chernin

  • Requiem Aeternum: Handel (Fromelles)

  • Kyrie: FS Kelly (Pozieres)

  • Tuba mirum: Nigel Westlake, Alex Lithgow (Bapaume)

  • Lacrimosa: Elena Cats-Chernin (Bullecourt)

  • Virtus et Contantia: Richard Mills (The charge of Beersheba)

  • Dies Irae: Nigel Westlake (Third Ypres)

  • Sanctus: Nigel Westlake (The fall of flying Aces)

  • Benedictus Nigel Westlake (Amiens)

  • Libera Me: Nigel Westlake (Villers Bretonneux)

  • Offertorium: Andrew Schulz (Hamel and Monash)

  • Pie Jesu: Graeme Koehne (Mt. St Quentin/Peronne)

  • Lux Aeterna: Ross Edwards (Bellenglise, Monbrehan)

  • Prayer for Peace: Christopher Latham

PERFORMERS

The Australian War Memorial Orchestra & Choir and members of the Band of the Royal Military College Duntroon with Paul Goodchild - trumpet; Simone Riksman - soprano (Holland); Christina Wilson - mezzo-soprano; Andrew Goodwin - tenor; David Hidden - baritone; David Novak - accordion (Slovenia); Jordan Aikin - bagpipes (UK); Timothy Young - piano; Tobias Cole - Choirmaster. Directed by Christopher Latham

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The Lost Jewels: Flowers of War
Aug
11
2:00 PM14:00

The Lost Jewels: Flowers of War

  • NGA - James O. Fairfax Theatre (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Presented in association with the National Gallery of Australia

THE LOST JEWELS – Masters and masterworks lost in the Great War

An extraordinary concert of musical and artistic treasures lost to the Great War, curated and arranged by Christopher Latham for soprano, tenor, chamber choir, string quartet and piano in order to mark the centenary of the final days of WWI. The music of composers from nine countries, lost to war or disease, are combined with the vivid projected images of paintings by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele (Austria), Umberto Boccioni (Italy), Franz Marc, August Macke and Wilhelm Morgner (Germany) who also died during WWI.

PROGRAM

  • FS Kelly (killed 1916) - Monograph 16 arr. for piano quintet

  • Alberic Magnard (killed 1914) - Chant Funebre arr for piano quintet

  • Botho Sigwart - Erwachen des Waldes Vier Lieder op 17 no 1. arr. for voice and piano quintet

  • Claude Debussy (died 1918) - Pour les vêtements du blessé from Page D'Album for piano

  • Rudi Stephan (killed 1915) - Kythere, Glück zu Zweien (The Luck of Two) and Das Hohelied Der Nacht (The Love Song of the Night) from Ich will dir singen ein Hohelied (I Want to Sing You a Sublime Song) arr. soprano and piano quintet

  • George Butterworth (killed 1916) - Fantasia arr for piano quintet

  • Enrique Granados - The Maiden and the Nightingale and Final Scene Love Death from Goyescas for soprano with tenor and piano quintet

  • Antonio Fragoso - Nocturne for piano

  • Toivo Kuula - Kuutamolla (Sailing in the Moonlight) op 31a no 1 (1917) for voice and piano quintet

  • Ernest Farrar - Heroic Elegy arr for piano quintet

  • W Denis Browne - To Gratiana arr. for soprano and piano quintet

  • Andre DeVaere - Grave et Poignant for piano

  • Lili Boulanger - Vielle prière bouddhique (Old Buddhist Prayer), Prière quotidienne pour tout l'Univers (A Daily Prayer for all the Universe) for soprano, chamber choir and piano quintet

PERFORMERS

Louise Page soprano, Edward Neeman piano, Sculthorpe String Quartet (Anna McDonald and Christopher Latham violins, James Wannan viola, Paul Stender cello), Luminescence Chamber Choir. Directed by Christopher Latham, artist-in-residence at the Australian War Memorial.

TICKETS
$50 full price, $45 concession, $40 NGA Members

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The Lost Jewels: Flowers of War
Aug
10
7:30 PM19:30

The Lost Jewels: Flowers of War

Presented in association with the National Gallery of Australia

THE LOST JEWELS – Masters and masterworks lost in the Great War

An extraordinary concert of musical and artistic treasures lost to the Great War, curated and arranged by Christopher Latham for soprano, tenor, chamber choir, string quartet and piano in order to mark the centenary of the final days of WWI. The music of composers from nine countries, lost to war or disease, are combined with the vivid projected images of paintings by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele (Austria), Umberto Boccioni (Italy), Franz Marc, August Macke and Wilhelm Morgner (Germany) who also died during WWI.

PROGRAM

  • FS Kelly (killed 1916) - Monograph 16 arr. for piano quintet

  • Alberic Magnard (killed 1914) - Chant Funebre arr for piano quintet

  • Botho Sigwart - Erwachen des Waldes Vier Lieder op 17 no 1. arr. for voice and piano quintet

  • Claude Debussy (died 1918) - Pour les vêtements du blessé from Page D'Album for piano

  • Rudi Stephan (killed 1915) - Kythere, Glück zu Zweien (The Luck of Two) and Das Hohelied Der Nacht (The Love Song of the Night) from Ich will dir singen ein Hohelied (I Want to Sing You a Sublime Song) arr. soprano and piano quintet

  • George Butterworth (killed 1916) - Fantasia arr for piano quintet

  • Enrique Granados - The Maiden and the Nightingale and Final Scene Love Death from Goyescas for soprano with tenor and piano quintet

  • Antonio Fragoso - Nocturne for piano

  • Toivo Kuula - Kuutamolla (Sailing in the Moonlight) op 31a no 1 (1917) for voice and piano quintet

  • Ernest Farrar - Heroic Elegy arr for piano quintet

  • W Denis Browne - To Gratiana arr. for soprano and piano quintet

  • Andre DeVaere - Grave et Poignant for piano

  • Lili Boulanger - Vielle prière bouddhique (Old Buddhist Prayer), Prière quotidienne pour tout l'Univers (A Daily Prayer for all the Universe) for soprano, chamber choir and piano quintet

PERFORMERS

Louise Page soprano, Edward Neeman piano, Sculthorpe String Quartet (Anna McDonald and Christopher Latham violins, James Wannan viola, Paul Stender cello), Luminescence Chamber Choir. Directed by Christopher Latham, artist-in-residence at the Australian War Memorial.

TICKETS
$50 full price, $45 concession, $40 NGA Members

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Paris: Les Fleurs de Guerre/Flowers of War
Nov
4
8:00 PM20:00

Paris: Les Fleurs de Guerre/Flowers of War

Trois Trésors: La musique retrouvée de trois compositeurs disparus pendant la Premiere Guerre Mondiale, Claude Dubosq (France) Botho Sigwart ( Allegemagne) at FS Kelly (Australie)

En hommage au sacrifice des combattants Australiens, associés au front occidental ou ils périrent nombreux en 1916, notamment à Pozières et Fromelles, ce programme réunit symboliquement trois compositeurs français, allemand et australien. De Duboscq, des œuvres composées pendant son service, auxquelles celles d'un compositeur Allemand mort pendant la guerre feront écho. Puis un florilège des plus belles pages du compositeur Australien Kelly, écrites dans les tranchées près desquelles il perdit la vie. Avec en contrepoint, un rappel de la Bataille de Gallipoli, de par la présence talentueuse de Güray Basol.

En partenariat avec le label discographique Hortus
Avec le soutien de la Mission du centenaire de la Première Guerre mondiale
Sous le haut patronage de l'Ambassade d'Australie

Louise Page soprano, Christina Wilson mezzo, Tamara-Anna Cislowska et Güray Basol piano, Christophe Latham violon et directeur

Billets 15,00 euro/10,00 euro

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Sydney:Three Treasures
Oct
23
3:00 PM15:00

Sydney:Three Treasures

France, Germany, Australia each lost a musical treasure in WWI Discover the stories and superb music of Claude Duboscq Botho Sigwart zu Eulenburg  and Frederick Septimus Kelly. ANZAC scholar Chris Latham brings you another moving concert in the Flowers of War Series. Not to be missed

 Louise Page soprano, Christine Wilson mezzo, Christopher Latham violin, Alan Hicks piano, Tamara-Anna Cislowska piano

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Canberra:Three Treasures
Oct
21
7:30 PM19:30

Canberra:Three Treasures

France, Germany, Australia each lost a musical treasure in WWI. Discover the stories and superb music of Claude Duboscq , Botho Sigwart zu Eulenburg and Frederick Septimus Kelly. ANZAC scholar Chris Latham brings you another moving concert in the Flowers of War Series. Not to be missed

 Louise Page soprano, Christine Wilson mezzo, Christopher Latham violin, Alan Hicks piano, Tamara-Anna Cislowska piano

Click on Concert Calendar to book:

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