Directed by Suzi Digby OBE, the award-winning ORA Singers perform Liberté, a brand new programme constructed specially to mark the 80th Anniversary of Jersey’s liberation from German occupation.
The program begins with the stirring theme of The Armed Man, opening with the plainchant that inspired Palestrina’s Missa L’Homme Armé. ORA presents three contrasting sections from this mass, interwoven with English choral works of mourning and consolation, with Thomas Hewitt Jones’ tender miniature Drop, Drop Slow Tears, followed by a pairing of Tallis’ serene In Manus Tuas alongside Jonathan Dove’s English setting of the same text, before culminating with Stanford’s timeless Justorum Animae.
At the heart of the program lies Herbert Howells’ deeply moving a cappella Requiem, an emotional centerpiece of unparalleled depth. The program features a specially commissioned work by acclaimed Polish composer, Paweł Łukaszewski, setting to music Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Prayers in the Time of Distress; poignant writings born of the theologian’s faith under the grim shadow of a Nazi concentration camp, where he died just two weeks before its liberation.
Included in the programme are Poulenc’s exquisite prayers set for men’s voices, before closing with Liberté, the last movement from Poulenc’s choral cantata Figure humaine. Universally acknowledged as a crowning achievement in the realm of unaccompanied choral music, this finale sees the climax of the work where antiphonal choirs finally come together to sing Liberté!, with the tessitura rising to heavenly heights.
All monies raised from the concert will support Music in Action’s outreach work with children in Jersey. To find out more see www.musicjersey.com
For assistance buying tickets, please contact Music in Action at 01534 761767 or email [email protected].
