Sydney Symphony Orchestra & New Zealand Symphony Orchestra to Premiere New Works

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra and New Zealand Symphony Orchestra will join forces to commemorate the centenary of the Gallipoli landings with simultaneous concerts featuring two world premieres by Australian and New Zealand composers.

The SSO has commissioned Australian composer James Ledger to write a piece for choir and orchestra titled War Music, featuring words by Australian musician and storyteller Paul Kelly, while the NZSO has commissioned celebrated New Zealand composer Michael Williams to write a new piece Letters from the Front.

Sharing the Anzac spirit across the Tasman, the orchestras will perform these works at virtually the same time on 22 April 2015, ahead of Anzac Day on 25 April. The SSO concert conducted by Richard Gill at the Sydney Opera House will feature Turkish Australian soprano Ayse Göknur Shanal, the Gondwana Chorale and Australian actor Michael McStay as narrator. The NZSO will perform with the New Zealand Youth Choir at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington and Auckland Town Hall.

Illustrating the shared human experience of war, choristers from France, Turkey and New Zealand -countries that fought in the conflict - will join Gondwana Chorale in singing War Music at the Sydney Opera House. Choristers at both the Australian and New Zealand performances will be of a similar age to the soldiers who were at Gallipoli, acting as a poignant reminder of the nature of war.