The Lemnos-Gallipoli 1915: Women in War Multimedia Exhibition and historical book LİMNİ-GELİBOLU 1915: SAVAŞIN KADINLARI (Turkish Translation by Mehmet Yildiz) were launched on Thursday, 21 May 2015 at the Çanakkale Kent Museum in Çanakkale, Turkey (Çanakkale Kent Müzesi Arşivi) by Australian Consul Mr Nicholas Sergi. Multimedia Exhibition designer Stathis Mitsios and author Alice McConnell presented their work to an audience which included the Deputy Mayor of Çanakkale,...

The collaboration of artists from three different cultures for the creation and presentation of a new operatic work is a challenge on its own. That very challenge however contains within it the immense potentiality of a creative exploration into untreaded waters, onto paths not yet walked on.  A magical journey indeed!

The artists that joined their creative forces for the manifestation of this work - from a blank page to a full scale production - each has their individual...

When Tassos offered me the job to direct his contemporary opera, I thought I couldn’t possibly do it. I’ve spent the last twenty years working in cinema of social realism, and most recently, in theatre, opera has just never been a consideration. But Tassos was adamant and I thank him for that. Opera to me is precious, specialized, and as I’m discovering now, actually, not for the faint-hearted. I’ll be approaching it as I would any drama, though, and looking to breathe na...

How did this collaboration start?

I have known Tassos for more years than I care to remember. We played in bands together back in the dark ages, co-wrote an album of children's songs together, collaborated on various television projects.  So Tassos approaching me to work together on the opera I think for him was kind of a Blues Brothers moment - "we're putting the band back together!"  We work well together and understand what the other wants.  My long associa...

When war broke out women found ways to contribute to the war efforts of their countries, albeit within the limitations set on them by society: they raised funds, wrote letters, sent care parcels, knitted and waited for their men to return.

But in almost all countries there was at least one way in which women could leave home and go to war: nursing. For those women who wanted to take an active role in their country’s war effort, nursing was really their only option. Nurs...