A Plea for Peace
Fri Aug 16, 19:00 - Sat Aug 17, 21:45
Cape Town City Hall
ABOUT
The Symphony Choir of Cape Town presents
A PLEA FOR PEACE
‘Better is Peace than always War’ – This is the definitive message which begins the final movement of Karl Jenkins’ “The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace”. The work is the main feature of The Symphony Choir of Cape Town’s collaborative concert to be held in the Cape Town City Hall on 16 and 17 August 2024 at 7 pm.
The Armed Man was commissioned for the millennium by Britain’s Royal Armouries Museum and dedicated to the victims of the Kosovo crisis. It is a contemporary mass based on the 15th century French song L’homme armé (The Armed Man) and set in the framework of the Christian Mass but using both sacred and secular texts by authors and poets including Rudyard Kipling, Jonathan Swift and Tennyson. This work is a subtle but powerful protest with cynical yet poignant undertones which graphically highlights the pain, horror and futility of war, culminating in a prayerful acknowledgement that peace, healing and comfort are at hand.
To complement the main feature, the programme includes two movements from Gustav Holst’s popular orchestral suite, The Planets. The wind ensemble will play “Mars – the Bringer of War” followed by “Jupiter – the Bringer of Jollity”. In addition, we will perform John Williams’ “Hymn to the Fallen” from the Steven Spielberg movie, Saving Private Ryan. This most powerful and emotional melody evokes a feeling of hope and strength with overall tones of reverence.
The Symphony Choir of Cape Town is delighted to be collaborating with the SACS Boys High School Choir and the Hershel Chorale with accompaniment by the Windworx and Stellenbosch University Symphonic Wind Ensembles. This concert is a heartfelt, sobering and hopeful Plea for Peace in our troubled times by approximately 250 voices and musicians and conducted by our inspired director, Levi Alexander.