SS Montevideo Maru shipwreck found 81 years after Australia's worst maritime disaster

By Brianna Morris-Grant

The Montevideo Maru was sunk by an American submarine off the coast of the Philippine island of Luzon.(AAP/Australian War Memorial, file photo)

The ship at the centre of the worst maritime disaster in Australia's history has been discovered more than 4,000 metres beneath the sea, 81 years after it sank.

Japanese transport ship SS Montevideo Maru sank with about 979 Australian troops and civilians on July 1, 1942, off the coast of the Philippines.

It was torpedoed by an American submarine, which did not know it was carrying prisoners of war and civilians captured in Rabaul.

In total, about 1,060 prisoners were lost, including 850 service members and 210 civilians from 14 countries.

The location of the wreck has remained a mystery for decades — until now.

SS Montevideo Maru was found after 12 days of searching in the South China Sea, by a team led by not-for-profit Silentworld Foundation, deep-sea survey specialists Fugro and supported by the Department of Defence.

The wreckage will not be disturbed, and no human remains or artefacts will be removed. The site will be recorded for research purposes.

Features found on scans of the wreckage, including the hold, the foremast, and the curve of the bow, match those found on drawings of the Montevideo Maru.  

Silentworld Foundation director John Mullens told ABC News Breakfast there were mixed emotions on board the ship when the discovery was made.

"We're looking at the gravesite of over 1,000 people," he said.

"We lost nearly twice as many [Australians] as in the whole of the Vietnam War, so it's extraordinarily significant for families and descendants.

"[The significance] is a mixture of the technical challenge, which is absorbing and motivating … but on the other side of it is the human side.

"When we first saw the images coming up of the ship no-one had seen for 80 years, since that terrible night, it was pretty emotional stuff.

"We had two people on board who had family members who were lost, so while on the one side there were cheers, on the other there were a few tears. It was very emotional."

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he hoped the discovery would bring "a measure of comfort" to the families of the victims.

Scans taken of the bottom of the ocean show the shipwreck. (Supplied: Silentworld)

"The extraordinary effort behind this discovery speaks for the enduring truth of Australia's solemn national promise to always remember and honour those who served our country," he said.

"This is the heart and the spirit of Lest We Forget."

'Hugely emotional' moment for families

On board when the wreck was discovered was Andrea Williams, who lost both her grandfather and her great uncle in the disaster.

Ms Williams is a founding member of the Rabaul and Montevideo Maru Society, which represents the interests of the descendants.

"Today is an extraordinarily momentous day for all Australians connected with this tragic disaster," Ms Williams said.

Andrea Williams founded the Montevideo Maru Society to represent those who lost family in the disaster. (Supplied: Silentworld )

"Having had a grandfather and great-uncle as civilian internees on Montevideo Maru always meant the story was important to me, as it is to so many generations of families whose men perished.

"I could never understand why it was not a more powerful part of our Australian WWII history.

"Being part of the Silentworld team that has found the wreck has been both hugely emotional and also fulfilling."

Australian Army Chief Lieutenant General Simon Stuart said those involved had met a "terrible fate at sea".

"Today we remember their service, and the loss of all those aboard, including the 20 Japanese guards and crew, the Norwegian sailors and the hundreds of civilians from many nations," he said.

"I want to thank the Silentworld team and the dedicated researchers, including the Unrecovered War Casualties team at army, who have never given up hope of finding the final resting place of the Montevideo Maru."

"A loss like this reaches down through the decades and reminds us all of the human cost of conflict."

Letters from long-dead loved ones

The Japanese prisoner of war ship was transporting Australians and others to Hainan Island when it was sunk by US Navy submarine the USS Sturgeon.

The Sturgeon fired its four torpedoes at the Montevideo Maru. Lifeboats onboard the vessel were launched, but all capsized and the ship sank in less than 11 minutes.

Many families were not told of their relatives' deaths for years. 

Also on board the Montevideo Maru were Australian soldiers who had been stationed with Lark Force at Rabaul. They were captured by conquering Japanese soldiers just weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbour.

Months later, hundreds of handwritten letters written by the men were dropped from the skies by Japanese bombers over Port Moresby.

By the time they reached their intended destination, all of the authors were dead.

Among them was Ronald Freeman, a gunner with the 17th anti-tank battery in Rabaul, who signed off a letter to his pregnant wife Dorothy and his two-year-old daughter Vicki: "I love you, I love. Kiss Vicki for me. Your loving husband."

First published at ABC Website, April 22, 2023

Ahmad Jamal, measured maestro of the jazz piano, dies at 92

By Martin Johnson

Ahmad Jamal, pictured in 2016. Rémy Gabalda/AFP via Getty Images

For most jazz performers, a song is part of a performance. For Ahmad Jamal, each song was a performance. Over the course of a remarkable eight-decade career, Jamal, who passed away Sunday at the age of 92, created stellar recordings both as an ambitious youth and a sagely veteran.

Jamal's death was confirmed by his daughter, Sumayah Jamal. He died Sunday afternoon in Ashley Falls, Mass., after a battle with prostate cancer.

Jamal's influence and admirers spread far and wide in jazz. For instance, Miles Davis found enormous inspiration in his work: In his 1989 autobiography, Miles, the legendary trumpeter said that Jamal "knocked me out with his concept of space, his lightness of touch, his understatement, and the way he phrases notes and chords and passages." Miles went on to record Jamal's "New Rhumba" on his classic 1957 recording Miles Ahead.

His contemporary admirers are just as fervent. Pianist Ethan Iverson, a founding member of the exceptionally popular trio The Bad Plus, said, "All of his pieces are theatrical and contained. In some ways the Bad Plus was an extension of his classic trio."

Pianist Vijay Iyer was just as adamant. "His sense of time is that of a dancer, or a comedian. His left hand stays focused, and his right hand is always in motion, interacting with, leaning on, and shading the pulse.

"He bends any song to his will, always open to the moment and always pushing the boundaries, willing to override whatever old chestnut he's playing in search of something profoundly alive."

Jamal was born Frederick Russell Jones in Pittsburgh on July 2, 1930. When he was 3 years old, his uncle challenged him to duplicate what he was playing on the piano, and the youngster actually could. He began formal studies of the piano at the age of 7 and quickly took on an advanced curriculum. He told Eugene Holley Jr. of Wax Poetics in a 2018 interview, "I studied Art Tatum, Bach, Beethoven, Count Basie, John Kirby, and Nat Cole. I was studying Liszt. I had to know European and American classical music. My mother was rich in spirit, and she led me to another rich person: my teacher, Mary Cardwell Dawson, who started the first African-American opera company in the country."

Jamal grew up in a Pittsburgh community that was rich in jazz history. His neighbors included the legendary pianists Earl Hines, Erroll Garner and Mary Lou Williams. As a youth, Jamal delivered newspapers to the household of Billy Strayhorn. When Jamal began his professional career at the age of 14, Art Tatum, an early titan of the keyboard, proclaimed him "a coming great." During a tour stop in Detroit, Jamal, who was born to Baptist parents, converted to Islam and changed his name.

His fluency in European classical music — Jamal disdained the term jazz, preferring American classical music as a descriptor for his work — was a highlight of his style. In a 2001 New York Times article, Ben Waltzer, a pianist and curriculum director at the University of Chicago, noted, "when we listen to his music, fragments from Ravel's 'Bolero' and Falla's 'Ritual Fire Dance' mingle with the blues, standard songs, melodic catch-phrases from bebop, and the 'Marseillaise.'"

This may not seem remarkable today, when most jazz musicians are conservatory-trained and well versed in art music, from Louis Armstrong to Iannis Xenakis and from Laurie Anderson to John Zorn. But Jamal was a youth when there were significant barriers to African Americans entering the academy. "In Pittsburgh, we didn't separate the two schools," he told Waltzer.

Jamal's style went well beyond a diverse range of source material; he expanded the borders and depth of improvisation. "Jazz improvisation is generally understood as a narrative melodic line composed spontaneously in relation to a song's harmonic structure," wrote Waltzer. "Jamal broadened this concept by using recurring riffs, vamps and ostinatos — tropes of big-band jazz that were employed as background accompaniment for featured instrumentalists — not just to frame solos, as many musicians did, but as the stuff of improvisation itself."

Ahmad Jamal, April 2010 (Paul CHARBIT/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
Poinciana live! on YouTube

In the early and mid-'50s, Jamal led various trios and quartets, before settling into a trio setting with bassist Israel Crosby and drummer Vernel Fournier. In 1958, they released the landmark jazz recording, At The Pershing: But Not For Me. It is one of the most popular and influential recordings in jazz history. It stayed on the Billboard Top 200 album chart for an astounding 108 weeks.

Iverson said of the title track, "The classic Jamal Trio with Crosby and Fournier is one of the greatest groups of all time. 'But Not For Me' is a perfect three minutes. Literally perfect. There's nothing better."

The trio's version of "Poinciana" sparked the popularity of the recording, and it became a signature tune for Jamal. He told Wax Poetics, "It was a combination of things: Israel Crosby's lines, what I was playing, and Vernel—if you listen to his work on "Poinciana," you'd think it was two drummers!"

Jamal visited Africa in 1959. Upon his return to Chicago, he had a failed venture as a club owner, then took a hiatus from recording in the early '60s. By the middle of the decade, he'd resumed recording and touring. His 1969 album, The Awakening, was widely hailed for its rendering of jazz standards and originals.

His music was found in the soundtracks of movies like M*A*S*H and The Bridges of Madison County. In a 1985 episode of NPR's Piano Jazz, Jamal told host and fellow piano legend Marian McPartland that his favorite recording was "the next one." Then he allowed that the Pershing "was close to perfection." He also said that he continued to focus on ballads. "They are difficult to play," he told her, "it takes years of living to read them properly." In 1994, he was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Fellowship.

He continued making stellar recordings into the past decade. His 2017 release, Marseille, was noted in the NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll.

The recording featured all of the hallmarks that made Jamal a great pianist and bandleader, and the drummer Herlin Riley, like Fournier, was from New Orleans. It prompted Iyer to note that Jamal's lineage of New Orleanian drummers — Fournier, Idris Muhammad and Riley — suggests rhythm as a ritual or cultural cornerstone.

Jamal's work continued to impress other pianists. In 2014 Matthew Shipp told NPR's Karen Michel, "His imagination is so deep. One of the joys of listening to him is to see how his fertile imagination interacts with the material he does pick and recombines it into a musical entity that we've never heard. I mean, he is a musical architect of the highest order."

Waltzer added, "innovation in jazz can be subtle. Rather than reaching outward to create an overtly revolutionary sound, Mr. Jamal explored the inner workings of the small ensemble to control, shape and dramatize his music."

First published at NPR, April 16, 

Principal Guest Conductor Emeritus: Sir John Eliot Gardiner

The Philharmonia Orchestra are thrilled to announce the appointment of Sir John Eliot Gardiner as Principal Guest Conductor Emeritus from the 2023/24 season.

Following a gap of 23 years, the Orchestra was delighted to reignite its relationship with Sir John Eliot Gardiner during the Covid lockdowns with a streamed performance of Elgar’s Enigma Variations. A recent concert at the Royal Festival Hall, conducted by Sir John Eliot, had critics and audiences celebrating the partnership and exceptional rapport between the conductor and Orchestra. These recent successes moved the musicians of the Philharmonia to create a more formal relationship by bestowing the unprecedented title of Principal Guest Conductor Emeritus on Sir John Eliot, in the week of his 80th birthday.

Sir John Eliot Gardiner is an international leader in today’s musical life. Regarded as one of the world’s most respected and boundary-redefining musicians, he is consistently at the forefront of vivid and enlightened interpretation, working regularly with the world’s foremost orchestras. Gardiner’s work as Artistic Director of his Monteverdi Choir & Orchestra, English Baroque Soloists and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique has marked him out as a pioneer of historically informed performance. He regularly guests conducts leading orchestras such as the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Berliner Philharmoniker. His many hundreds of recordings lay testimony to the extraordinary range and breadth of his artistry.

Sir John Eliot Gardiner said: “I’m greatly honoured to accept this title which the Philharmonia have conferred on me. Re-establishing contact with this magnificent orchestra feels like a wonderful homecoming. It’s been a delight to re-encounter the translucent warmth of the legendary Philharmonia string sound, to rediscover and admire the individual character and musicality of their woodwind principals and the burnished sonority of their brass section. I am excited by this opportunity to renew and deepen my fruitful association with this flexible and open-minded body of musicians, and the chance it gives to cement the links with them by developing fresh ways to explore both familiar and unchartered areas of the symphonic repertoire”.

Sir John Eliot will begin his tenure with one concert and an international tour in the 2023/24 season; the following three seasons will then see the relationship deepen, with three RFH programmes per season and further tours, allowing the development of his own programmatic ideas, including the introduction of new repertoire.

Thorben Dittes, Philharmonia Chief Executive said: “I’m thrilled that Sir John Eliot Gardiner will be part of the Philharmonia family. With this new relationship the Orchestra will be in the unique position to draw on Sir John Eliot’s distinguished musical insight and unrivalled curiosity to shape new distinctive programming strands which will build on our history of excellence and innovation.”

Kira Doherty, President and Second Horn said: “It will be a huge pleasure and honour to welcome Sir John Eliot Gardiner back to the Philharmonia in the new role of Principal Guest Conductor Emeritus. Not only is Gardiner one of the most eminent and celebrated conductors of his time, he is also a passionate and vocal advocate for the arts. A man of towering talent and unshakable musical conviction, we look forward immensely to working together and building an artistic vision that will see the Orchestra pushed to new musical heights”.

This announcement comes ahead of the 2023/24 season programme launch on 24 April, which will include a further exciting addition to the Philharmonia musical family.

First published at Philharmonia website, April 19, 2023

The English National Opera presents Marina Abramović’s acclaimed production of 7 Deaths of Maria Callas

News Press

In the work, Abramovic inhabits Maria Callas, miming to a recording of “Casta Diva.”Credit...
Photo: Wilfried Hösl, courtesy The New York Times

In the 2023/24 Season at the London Coliseum, the English National Opera (ENO) will present the acclaimed production of 7 Deaths of Maria Callas. In this highly anticipated UK premiere, renowned performance artist Marina Abramović makes her ENO debut with her production of 7 Deaths of Maria Callas, exploring the life, work and death of one of opera’s greatest stars. Tickets will go on sale to the public on Thursday 20 April 2023 at 10.00am.

Callas – whose private life was never quite able to be separated from her performances – has fascinated Abramović for decades, conceiving this operatic project as a homage and exploration of the great prima donna. This staging marks 100 years since the world renowned American-born Greek soprano was born.

Abramović first heard Maria Callas when she was fourteen years old in Yugoslavia. Since Callas’s voice caught her attention at a young age, Abramović has been drawn to their similarities; from their shared physical features to their personal attributes and relationships.

Immortalised through her place in popular culture, Callas (sometimes referred to as ‘La Divina’ – the divine one) is invoked on stage through a series of her most famous arias from La traviata, Tosca, Madam Butterfly, Carmen, Otello, Lucia di Lamermoor and Norma, with new music by Serbian Composer Marko Nikodijević.

Accompanying each of these aria performances are a series of short films starring Abramović and actor Willem Dafoe. Present on stage throughout the performance, Abramović plays the sleeping Callas, haunted by her greatest roles in a set that recreates the Paris apartment where Callas died.

In addition to performing in this ‘truthful and mesmerising declaration of love to Callas’ (Bachtrack), Abramović both directed and designed the operatic project. Leading the award-winning ENO Orchestra is Israeli-American Conductor Yoel Gamzou, and the costumes have been designed by Riccardo Tisci for Burberry.

Marina Abramović says: ‘One of the ways that Maria Callas has inspired me is through her mix between strength and fragility that you can see in both her work and life. That mix became the common ground between her and I and provided me with the foundation to produce this work. I am very honoured that I can perform the 7 Deaths of Maria Callas at the English National Opera in London which has such a long and rich history of incredible theatre. I always refer to her comment when she said “When I perform I make sure that one part of my brain is in complete control and the other part is loose and free.”’

The production premiered in September 2020 at Munich’s Bayerische Staatsoper and has since toured to co-production partners: the Greek National Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Opéra national de Paris, and the Teatro San Carlo di Napoli.

Revivals in the 2022/23 season include performances at the Royal Theatre Carré in Amsterdam and Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. Casting to be announced soon.

7 Deaths of Maria Callas opens on Friday 3 November for 5 performances: Nov 3, 9, 11 at 19.30. Nov 5, 11 at 15.00.

Tickets available to purchase from www.eno.org/mariacallas

First published at ENO website, April 18, 2023 

Sony World Photography Award-winning photograph turns out to be AI-generated image

By Lara Smit

The AI-generated image is called The Electrician from Boris Eldagsen's series Pseudomnesia.
(Supplied: © Boris Eldagsen)

Sony World Photography Award winner Boris Eldagsen from Germany has refused to accept his trophy, revealing his prize-winning photo is an AI-generated image.

The picture, a haunting black and white portrait of two women from different generations, which looks similar to a 1940s family portrait, won the award in the open competition for single images.

During the London award ceremony, Eldagsen revealed the image had been created using artificial intelligence and he refused the prize.

"Thank you for selecting my image and making this a historic moment, as it is the first AI-generated image to win in a prestigious international photography competition," he says.

"AI images and photography should not compete with each other in an award like this. They are different entities. AI is not photography. Therefore I will not accept the award."

In a statement on his website, Eldagsen explains how AI technology can be used to "co-create".

"It is not about pressing a button — and done it is. It is about exploring the complexity of this process, starting with refining text prompts, then developing a complex workflow, and mixing various platforms and techniques." 

Eldagsen has suggested his competition prize be donated to a photo festival in Odesa, Ukraine. 

Eldagsen said he entered the competition to provoke a debate about artificial intelligence and photography.

"We, the photo world, need an open discussion. A discussion about what we want to consider photography and what not. Is the umbrella of photography large enough to invite AI images to enter — or would this be a mistake?"

Eldagsen has been embracing the new opportunities that artificial intelligence brings, specialising in making AI-generated images, and calling for separate competitions to be created.

His series Pseudomnesia consists of a number of images that look like "fake memories of a past that never existed, that no-one photographed". 

"Just as photography replaced painting in the reproduction of reality, AI will replace photography. Don't be afraid of the future. It will just be more obvious that our mind always created the world that makes it suffer," he says. 

The Sony World Photography Award is yet to issue a statement responding to Eldagsen's revelation, however it has removed his image from the website and the exhibition in London.

First published at ABC News website, April 18, 2023

HMAS Vampire passes through Sydney Harbour for major conservation work

By Declan Bowring

Onlookers caught the spectacle of the ship being moved by tugboats.(ABC News)

A decommissioned warship usually on display at the Australian National Maritime Museum has been moved through Sydney Harbour to Garden Island for conservation work.  

The HMAS Vampire was moved by three tugboats from Darling Harbour as the ship has no functioning engine. 

The vessel, which sits on the water while on display at the museum, will undergo $3 million in repairs, including work on its hull. 

The museum's chief executive, Daryl Karp, said the ship was due for major conservation work.

Three tugboats moved the warship through Sydney Harbour.(ABC News)

"Her keel was laid 70 years ago [and] we've had roughly five million visitors go on to her," Ms Karp told ABC Radio Sydney.

"As with anything that sits on the water — saltwater and museum objects [are] not a good mix."

Ms Karp said while the ship took a lot to maintain, it was important to have the display on the water.

Around five million visitors have boarded the ship at the Australian National Maritime Museum.
(Supplied: Australian National Maritime Museum)

"We're continually having to take it onto dry dock, to check it for rust, to repair things," Ms Karp told Breakfast presenter James Valentine.

"And to make sure that she remains absolutely safe for all our visitors."

The last of its kind

HMAS Vampire was built on Sydney's Cockatoo Island in the 1950s, with its keel laid in 1952. 

The ship was one of three Daring class destroyer ships built in Australia.

Ms Karp said the vessel was one of the last big gun ships to be built, as subsequent fighting ships were equipped with missile weaponry.

"She and her two sister ships were the first all-welded ships to be constructed in Australia," Ms Karp said.

"There's an enormous sense of pride and achievement in these ships being manufactured locally."

Despite its intimidating size, Ms Karp said the warship had a relatively peaceful career.

The ship was used to escort soldiers to Vietnam in the 1960s.

It was then turned into a training ship in 1980, before being decommissioned in 1986 and given to the museum in 1997.

A special sight on the harbour

The manoeuvring ship turned the heads of people out walking around Sydney Harbour on Wednesday.

Jim from Coogee was walking his grandson in Barangaroo Reserve when they stopped to see the boat turning around just off Darling Harbour. 

"With this harbour, it's so magnificent — every day you come down here is special, no doubt about that," he said.

First published at ABC website, January 18, 2023, from a broadcast on ABC Radio, Sydney.

Lionel Richie, Katy Perry, Take That to sing for King

Lionel Richie and Katy Perry will perform at the coronation concert for Britain’s King Charles III. (AP PHOTO)

By Farouq Suleiman in London

LIONEL Richie, Katy Perry and Take That will star in an eclectic line-up at a concert to celebrate King Charles’ coronation, billed by organisers as a chance to celebrate a new chapter in Britain’s history.

The formal coronation ceremony for Charles, who became king on the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth last September, will take place at Westminster Abbey on May 6.

The following day attention turns to Windsor Castle, west of London, where 20,000 members of the public and special guests attend the concert, which will also be broadcast on television and radio.

US music star Richie said: “To share the stage with the other performers at the coronation concert is a once-in-a-lifetime event and it will be an honour and a celebration.”

The line-up also includes opera star Andrea Bocelli, singer-songwriter Freya Ridings, Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel, and classical-soul composer Alexis Ffrench.

The list of performers was announced by the BBC, who will produce and broadcast the showcase.

In addition, The Coronation Choir, a group created from community choirs and amateur singers from across Britain, will appear alongside The Virtual Choir, which is made up of singers from across the Commonwealth.

The BBC said the centrepiece of the concert will see iconic locations across the UK lit up using projections, lasers, drone displays and illuminations.

“It will feature a broad mix of music spanning pop to classical, along with spoken word and dance performances reflecting arts and culture from around the UK and the wider Commonwealth,” the BBC said.

First published by Australian Associated Press, April 15, 2023 and again in Canberra City News, April 17, 2023.