Another magnificent concert - the Second World War Memorial ‘Greater Love’ was performed on 15 August 2025 in Canberra
80 years ago on the 15 August 1945, the Declaration of Peace in the Pacific was signed. The Australian War Memorial and the Flowers of Peace commemorated this historic anniversary with an epic concert that will describe through music, paintings, images, poetry and narrations these defining events. This nationally significant reflection remembered those who served abroad and at home, describing our nation’s supreme efforts to help defeat fascism and deliver a lasting peace.
The concert was narrated by Australia’s greatest theatre actor, John Bell AO OBE FRSN, performed by the Canberra Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Defence Force’s finest musicians with soloists William Barton, didjeridu; Simon Tedeschi and Edward Neeman, piano; Alice Giles, harp; Dong Ma, erhu; Andrew Goodwin, tenor; Rachel Mink, soprano; Brisbane Chamber Choir, Flowers of Peace Chorus and the Luminescence Children’s Choir.
Christopher Latham OAM, Artist in Residence at the Australian War Memorial and Director of the Flowers of Peace project created the Second World War Memorial: Greater Love, to describe the willingness of that generation to face truly daunting challenges, and to sacrifice their health and happiness for the greater good. “I wanted to describe this idea of a love beyond self, a greater love that took the form of service for the benefit of others, which I find enormously inspiring. It still amazes me what people were willing to sacrifice to achieve a peaceful, free, democratic world.”
In two halves, Act 1 featured music created in response to the Second World War - a series of eyewitness accounts by those directly affected. Act 2, told the story of the Second World War and would complete the 12 musical memorials to honour those who fell, and those harmed by their service.
We have commissioned our finest composers to create 15 works. Elena Kats-Chernin AO, Graeme Koehne AO and the Japanese American composer Karen Tanaka are being featured, alongside Andrew Schultz, William Barton, Dr Cyrus Meurant, Julian Yu, Peggy Polias and the British Australian composer Paul Carr. The music of Sergei Rachmaninoff, one of the most beloved composers and pianists of all time, who died in 1943, is also featured. ‘One of the structural elements that will unify the concert will be the 12 musical memorials - six in the first half and six in the second half that function like pillars in this voyage through our history’ said Chris. ‘These memorials are dedicated to Women, Indigenous Australians, the Medical and Nursing Services, the RAAF, the Navy, the Army, the Holocaust, Bomber Command and our Prisoners of War’.
This newly created music will be paired with paintings from the Australian War Memorial Official War Art Scheme created by painters like Stella Bowen, Harold Abbott, Colin Colahan, Sybil Craig, William Dargie, James Flett, Murray Griffin, Ivor Hele, Roy Hodgkinson, Geoffrey Mainwaring, Alan Moore and Nora Heysen.
This multi-faceted approach will create a deeply immersive meditation on Greater Love.
A review from Limelight is available via this link: https://limelight-arts.com.au/reviews/greater-love-second-world-war-memorial-concert-australian-war-memorial-flowers-of-peace/