Archived event
Performance details
Saturday 14 October 2023 at 7.30pm
Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall
Featuring
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Benjamin Northey conductor
Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO soprano (Yorta Yorta)
Linda Barcan mezzo-soprano
Jud Arthur baritone
The Consort of Melbourne
Dhungala Children's Choir
MSO Chorus
Warren Trevelyan-Jones chorus director
Program
Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO Long Time Living Here (Musical Acknowledgement of Country)
Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO Eumeralla, a war requiem for peace
About this performance
“One day I hope to walk on that country and feel no restless spirit – just the strength of two thousand generations of lives lived and culture sustained.”
Southwest of Melbourne lies a battleground, haunted with the memory of war and loss. The scars of the Eumeralla Resistance War (1840 – 1863) lie heavily upon the country.
“I first walked on this battlefield in 2013. The voices of those lost were so loud that it woke something in me and my immediate response was music. A song. A Requiem. A War Requiem, named in honour of one of the most brutal resistance wars fought on this continent.”
Eumeralla, a war requiem for peace brings into focus a period of Australia’s history that is yet to be fully understood. Written and composed by acclaimed Yorta Yorta soprano, composer and Artistic Director of Short Black Opera, Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO, this requiem for peace, will be sung entirely in the ancient dialects of the Gunditjmara people.
“It is my hope that this requiem will help the spirits of those who fell to find a lasting peace and that we, their descendants, might find our way to deeper understanding of the legacy of these battles.”
"Eumeralla, a war requiem for peace will break the silence of so many decades and serve to amplify the importance of our nation’s shared history.” – Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO
Performance artwork by Gunditjmara artist Thomas Day.
Read more about Eumeralla
Hear from composer Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO about the battlefields of the Eumeralla.
