As we approach April 15, across the country arts organisations of almost every variety are staging events, exhibitions, installations and performances in memory of the ANZAC campaign on the Turkish peninsula of Gallipoli. This bloody and ultimately futile moment of World War I is often cited as a moment of national awakening for Australia; the birth of an Australian consciousness. 100 years on, the mere word “Gallipoli” still has a seismic resonance with Australians of every age, but of course it wasn’t only ANZAC soldiers who fought and died during the nine months of the Dardanelles Campaign. Over 250,000 men on both sides, the allied forces and the Ottoman Empire, never returned home, and it is this simple, yet profound observation that forms the narrative backbone of the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s ANZAC memorial, Reflections on Gallipoli.

The task of creating a performance in memory of such an historically significant yet savage period is one that requires delicate handling, and Reflections on Gallipoli achieves a good equilibrium between solemn remembrance and an unflinching commitment to depicting the terrifying reality that was faced at Gallipoli a century ago.

The ACO’s Artistic Director, Richard...