Renaissance music – Missa L’homme armé (Guerrera 1540) performed by Polifemy women’s vocal ensemble (dir. Robyn Mellor), with readings of wartime letters from Australian Army Nursing Service Sister Ada Priscilla Smith (read by Liz McKenzie).

“Everywhere it has been proclaimed that each man shall arm himself with a coat of iron mail. The armed man should be feared.”

You will hear readings from the letters and reports of Sister Ada Priscilla Smith after she enlisted in 1915, with Polifemy’s performances of the Missa L’homme armé (Mass for the Armed Man) by Francisco Guerrero in 1540, and motets by Morales, Palestrina, de Lassus, Victoria. While listening, you will be able to reflect on Sister Smith’s journey from Warwick in Queensland, to Egypt, France, England and back again in early 1920. Join us for a concert of beautiful Renasissance music and a riveting recounting of one woman’s war.