AWE Festival London 2026: Courage, Sacrifice & Mateship

AWE Festival London 2026

AWE launches its first spring mini-festival in London with a programme exploring the core values of the Anzac spirit, forged during the First World War by New Zealand and Australian soldiers. While there is no single definitive list, these values are often understood to include courage, sacrifice, service, comradeship or mateship, remembrance and endurance, alongside a deep sense of fairness and a natural aversion to class distinctions. Over time they have come to represent a powerful part of New Zealand and Australian identity, reflecting an approach to life and a distinctive character on the world stage.

Hosted in two iconic and intimate London venues, AWE traces a journey from the street scenes passing the window of Fidelio Café at ground level to the serene vistas from the top of St Pancras Clocktower, a Victorian landmark overlooking central London. Across these two performances we explore Anzac values through human experience rather than military narrative, focusing on music’s capacity to honour sacrifice, strengthen connection and hold space for remembrance.

1 | COURAGE, SACRIFICE & MATESHIP | 6:30pm, Monday 20 April, Fidelio Café - for more info about this performance visit AWE UK, or book directly with Fidelio.

2 | SERVICE, REMEMBRANCE & ENDURANCE | 7pm, Tuesday 21 April, St Pancras Clock Tower (book tickets here via Humanitix)

PROGRAMME

Vaughan Williams, passionate about preserving folk melodies, treats them here with love, an act of cultural service that preserves these tunes and the communities that carried them.

Salina Fisher’s Kintsugi reflects on the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold, celebrating fractures for the unique history they represent.

Sebastian Black’s new work for solo violin then tells the story of Alexander Aitken’s violin, gifted to him on his voyage to fight in the First World War, played for his comrades at Gallipoli and on the Western Front, then lost at the Somme, but not forever.

Ravel’s Piano Trio closes AWE London 2026, completed in 1914 as the outbreak of war spurred him on to finish the work before enlisting.

PERFORMERS

Benjamin Baker (NZ/UK) - violin | AWE Artistic Director

Yura Lee (USA) - viola

Maciej Kułakowski (Poland) - cello

Jack Moyer (NZ/UK)- cello (AWE Scholar)

Daniel Lebhardt (Hungary) - piano

FOR MORE INFO about AWE Festival London 2026, visit our website.

To purchase tickets for first festival performance on Monday 20 April, visit Fidelio Café website.