Once out walking near my home - I discovered a large tree with a plaque nearby. The three was a beautiful and tall pine tree, and the plaque told the story of the Lone Pine; a place at Gallipoli where an horrific battle took place between Australian and Turkish forces. A single lone pine tree marked the location - and hence the name 'The Battle of Lone Pine' to acknowledge the location of the conflict. Several thousand Turkish troops, and several hundreds Australian troops perished in the fight; and the lone pine was also destroyed. However, one of the Australian soldiers took a seedling from the site, and brought it back to Australia where it was kept for many years before four seedlings where planted. The tree I was standing in front of - was one of two that remain. To say I was amazed at the story, and even more amazed to know I was in the presence of the 'lone pine' - was incredibly moving. The tradition of ANZAC in Australia is perhaps the truest practice in our young culture... and this story, and experience standing at the lone pine immediately connected to the music written in this work. Less of an Elegy, and more of a meditation - decades since - in honour of all those who fell in the battle.
Composer: Lee Bradshaw
Lee Bradshaw is a Melbourne-based Australian composer. His current projects and collaborators include Elisabeth Prize winning violinist Baiba Skride, The Flinders String Quartet, Menuhin Academy viola professor Ivan Vukčević, award winning cellist Harriet Krijgh, and the pianist Andreas Boyde. As well as recent commissions from The Flinders Quartet, Menuhin Academy (Rolle, Switzerland), Wilma and Friends and the newly formed Clinch Quartet. Lee was named Composer-in-Residence for the 2020 edition of Mediterranean Notes Festival in Tivat, and is the creative director and producer of “The Death of Beethoven” - a recording cycle of the late-Beethoven String Quartets performed by Quartetto Energie Nove, in collaboration with Radio Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, Switzerland. Lee’s Sonata for Violin and Piano was the first Australian composition to be recorded on the Stuart & Sons Pianos at Newcastle University featuring violinist Sophie Rowell (Concertmaster, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra) and Alexy Koltakov (piano). “Via Crucis” for solo violin performed by the Queen Elisabeth Award winning violinist Baiba Skride during the 360 Concert Series in Pittsburgh for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (2020). Lee’s compositions have been performed by Artists such as: Baiba Skride, The Flinders String Quartet, Ivan Vukčević, Wilma Smith, Anna Sleptsova, Sophie Rowell, Michael Kieran Harvey, Iain Grandage, Erica Kennedy and Paul Wright, and The West Australian Youth Orchestra. His current projects include a Violin Concerto, and an Industrial Fusion Opera “Tales from the Abattoir”.