The Flowers of War commemoration of the centenary of World War One continues throughout this year with its focus on France and Belgium. Several days ago I reviewed a program devoted largely to music by Debussy and Ravel, performed to the imagery of Claude Monet. This was presented in the dead acoustic of the Fairfax Theatre of the National Gallery of Australia.

The second phase of this focus on Franco-Flemish music proceeded this past week in the cathedral-like acoustic of the High Court building next door to the Gallery. The Healers was billed as “a pocket opera about the role of women in World War One, how they healed men, broken by violence, through love”. It was a promising and intriguing proposition, one whose potential impact was defeated by it presentation and execution.

^{Rehearsals for The Flowers of War project The Healers. Photograph © Peter Hislop}

For this event, Christopher Latham assembled some 20 or so songs or instrumental pieces by composers who served or volunteered in the medical services, along with works by soldiers who were wounded or killed in action. Many were Australian premieres, or so it was claimed, and few...