Remembrance Concert

The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace was commissioned by the Royal Armouries to mark the millennium to reflect on war and peace in a multi-cultural, global society. To this end, the composition uses lyrics from classic poets, biblical verses, traditional mass, Muslim, Hindu, and Japanese sources. It does not seek to glorify warfare or the dead, but is more concerned with the horrors of war, particularly nuclear war.

Karl Jenkins dedicated this work to the victims of Kosovo, stating “When I started composing The Armed Man, the tragedy of Kosovo unfolded. I was thus reminded daily of the horror of such conflict and so I dedicate this work to the victims of Kosovo.” By coincidence the score was first published on 10 September 2001, the day before the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.  Sadly the current conflict in Ukraine makes this peace equally relevant today.

There will be illustrative images projected to accompany this work.

Faure's Requiem is the possibly the best-known of his large works. Its focus is on eternal rest and consolation. Fauré wrote of it, "Everything I managed to entertain by way of religious illusion I put into my Requiem, which moreover is dominated from beginning to end by a very human feeling of faith in eternal rest."