WAR AND PEACE – A Choral Concert

Two of Crawley’s best-loved choirs join voices for this special Crawley Festival concert to mark the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. Concordia Singers and The Weald Choir will present Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man and Joseph Haydn’s Mass in Time of War.
Conducted by Neil Jenkins and Ian Assersohn, the choirs will be accompanied by a professional orchestra, the Festival Sinfonia, and some wonderful professional soloists Lucy Knight (soprano), Janet Shell (alto), Paul Austin Kelly (tenor), and Njabulo Madlala (baritone).
Mass in Time of War is one of the most popular of Joseph Haydn’s 14 settings of the Mass.
The Armed Man, which is subtitled A Mass for Peace, was commissioned by the Royal Armouries Museum for the Millennium celebrations and dedicated to victims of the Kosovo crisis. It soon became extremely popular with Classic FM listeners for its beautiful melodies and exciting rhythms. The work ends on a note of hope, drawing on the hard-won understanding of Lancelot and Guinevere that "Better is Peace", and on the text from Revelation: "God shall wipe away all tears".
We hope that this event will draw together members of the local community from all faiths and ethnic backgrounds.