A Concert For Remembrance Day

The City of London Choir presents two compelling British war requiems to commemorate the Armistice of 11th November 1918. Dona Nobis Pacem is Vaughan Williams' heartfelt response to his own experience of the First World War, written in the shadow of a looming second global conflict — a powerful and dramatic work that starkly decries the cruelty of war, its insistent cry for peace among nations and goodwill to all. Too young for active combat at the Front, Gerald Finzi was deeply affected by the deaths of close family and friends; his secular requiem is an exquisite example of his gift for word-setting, a poignant lament for lost youth and for the centuries-old pattern of rural life, irreversibly changed by war. Judith Weir's beautiful setting of American poetry reflects on Earth today: our place in it, and what lies above and beyond.

Programme: Finzi – Requiem da camera; Judith Weir – O sweet spontaneous earth; Vaughan Williams – Dona nobis pacem

Performers: Hilary Cronin (soprano), baritone TBA, Britten Sinfonia, City of London Choir, Daniel Hyde (conductor)