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Canberra Today 22°/27° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Arts / Saluting the lost songbirds

“SACRIFICE: The Lost Songbirds of the Somme”, the latest in the Flowers of War project, commemorates the 100th anniversary of a battle in which soldiers were said to have died like cattle.

The concert opens at the High Court of Australia, moves on to St James, King Street, Sydney, and Melbourne’s Scots’ Church. Then to the churches of the destroyed towns of the Somme, including Pozieres and Fromelles, July 14-24.

Flowers of War director Chris Latham.
Flowers of War director Chris Latham.

It features rarely-played songs, an elegy, musical compositions and pipe tunes all connected with the Battle of the Somme and focusing on musicians, FS Kelly, Willie Braithwaite Manson, George Wilkinson, George Butterworth, Ivor Gurney, Francis Purcell Warren, William Laurie, Walter Braunfels, Botho Sigwart, Reynaldo Hahn and Jacques Ibert.

“Humanity lost so many brilliant composers and musicians in World War I, those songbirds we never knew,” says director Chris Latham, an Anzac Centenary Fellow and former “CityNews” Artist of the Year.

Performed by tenor Andrew Goodwin, Anton Wurzer on accordion, Jason Craig on bagpipes and the Sculthorpe String Quartet, “Sacrifice” comprises music composed in the trenches, in a hospital and pieces written just before the composers joined up.

The high point will be a tribute to the more than 300 pipers killed in action while playing, three of whom were awarded Victoria Crosses for their heroism.

“Sacrifice – The Lost Songbirds of the Somme”, A Flowers of War Event, at the High Court of Australia, 8pm-9.30pm, Tuesday, June 21. Conversation between Latham and historian Joan Beaumont, 6.30pm-7.30pm (free, but booking is essential). All bookings to theflowersofwar.org

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Helen Musa

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