The premiere of the first Australian musical composition commemorating those who fell in the Great War will be performed by Sydney University Graduate Choir on August 10th 2014.
An Australian War Requiem was inspired by letters between Australian soldiers at the Front and their mothers at home.
The work also uses text from the Stabat Mater depicting the grief of Mary at the suffering and death of Christ.
Commissioned by Sydney University Graduate Choir for the Centenary, it’s been composed by their Music Director, Christopher Bowen. He visited the battlefields of Gallipoli and the Western Front to draw inspiration and was also helped by the Australian War Memorial in finding suitable material.
The Requiem commemorates more than 60,000 Australians who died in the First World War, and more than 150,000 wounded.
‘An Australian Requiem’ will given its first performance by SUGC at Sydney Town Hall at 3pm on August 10th 2014. It will be available afterwards for performance by other choirs around Australia. More details can be found here.
Information and images supplied by Sydney Graduate University Choir
Posted by: Peter Alhadeff, Centenary News