The Flowers of the Great War collection is a gift to the nation and the world. Containing more than 20 hours of first recordings, music and contextual information, it is a survey of the best composers and painters from a dozen nations who fought in that conflict, most of whom were killed. It is a measure and demonstration of the cultural cost of war, undertaken as part of Christopher Latham’s artist-in-residence position at the Australian War Memorial.

A primary focus has been the recovery of the music of Frederick Septimus Kelly, Australia’s greatest cultural loss of WW1. Cristina will perform some of the gems of Kelly’s writing, including Crossing the Bar and It Is Not Dawn ‘Til You Awake. The collection includes the first complete edition of his recorded works, so that this important Australian, who served with the poet Rupert Brooke, and alongside Bernard Freyberg at Gallipoli and in the Somme where he was killed in 1916, can finally be reclaimed. Educated in Germany and fluent in German and French, Kelly is buried in France, 2kms from Pozieres. He embodies the alliance between our three nations.

In parallel to that cultural recovery, two large contemporary works about the Australian experiences in WW1 were also created: The Gallipoli Symphony, commissioned by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, bringing together the Turkish, New Zealand and Australian perspectives, and The Diggers’ Requiem co-commissioned by the Australian War Memorial and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, performed in France by a French and German orchestra with Australian soloists, and in Australia by the Australian War Memorial Orchestra and Choir, made up of Australians, both civilian and military, including many of German or French heritage or who had trained in those nations., in particular Metal Manufactures Ltd.

ARTISTS

Cristina Russo soprano, Chris Latham violin,
Timothy Young, Laurence Matheson and Caroline Almonte piano
with diary narrations read by Carrillo Gantner

TICKETS - by invitation - please contact the Flowers of War if you would like to attend.

Further information for this event is available online at the event's website or by phone on 0408 440 426 or by email to team@theflowersofwar.org