Wells Cathedral Oratorio Society will commemorate the end of the First World War with the cantata For an Unknown Soldier by Jonathan Dove and Gabriel Fauré's Requiem on Saturday 10th November.
The choir will be accompanied by the London Mozart Players, who are playing at the Cathedral for the first time. Also performing in this special concert are the Choristers of Wells Cathedral Choir, Tenor Thomas Elwin and Bass Henry Waddington. The Conductor is Matthew Owens.
For an Unknown Soldier was commissioned by the Portsmouth Grammar School to mark the anniversary of the beginning of the war and the school gave the first performance in 2014 with the London Mozart Players.
Dove said: "Facing the enormity of the First World War, I thought it wise not to attempt to say too much. I wanted to tell the story of just one man, an unknown soldier, as vividly as possible."
The London Mozart Players comment: "'For an Unknown Soldier’ was totally gripping and moving and the music extraordinary. The chosen texts came at us from all angles: the soldiers and those left behind, young and old."
The composer, who will attend the performance, studied first-hand accounts of warfare then turned to the poetry of the time as concentrated text for his piece.
He explains: "From my reading, a sequence of poems gradually emerged which suggested to me one man's journey through the war: beginning with enthusiasm and the decision to enlist; going on to discover the reality of war."
A reviewer of the London Premiere in 2014 gave this description: "Dove’s music was by turns viscerally dramatic, shocking, and gently poignant."
The musical experience of this powerful, emotional work in Wells Cathedral's beautiful setting is one not to be missed at this special time of remembrance.
Centenary Concert for Remembrance 1918 - 2018
Wells Cathedral, Saturday 10 November, 7pm
Jonathan Dove: For an Unknown Soldier
Fauré: Requiem
Tickets:
Online at: www.wcos.org.uk
In person from the Box Office at Cedars House, The Liberty, Wells.
By phone: 01749 834483 (9.30am - 12.30pm Monday-Friday).
Some tickets available from Wells Cathedral Shop: Monday to Saturday 10.00am - 5.00pm; Sunday 11.00am - 5.00pm: 01749 672773;
The centenary of the birth of Leonard Bernstein, composer and conductor, will be celebrated on Saturday 24th March with an exciting concert at Wells Cathedral. The Cathedral's Oratorio Society will mark the occasion by performing the full orchestral version of Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, with orchestra, solo quartet, boy treble, trumpets, trombone, timpani, percussion and strings. The conductor is Matthew Owens.
