Britten's War Requiem in King's | Cambridge University Musical Society

This is a concert not to be missed. The talented instrumentalists of the Cambridge University Orchestra, joined by members of the Cambridge University Sinfonia, combine with the Cambridge University Chamber Choir and the Choirs of Clare, Jesus, Selwyn and Trinity Colleges, as well as the choristers of Jesus and St Catharine's under the baton of Graham Ross. We are also excited to welcome soloists Natalya Romaniw, the first person ever to win both the Loveday Song Prize and first prize at the Kathleen Ferrier Awards, Ed Lyon, one of Britain’s most sought-after and versatile tenors, and Gareth John, winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award and rising opera star with organizations including the Welsh National Opera.

It is difficult to overstate the immensity and the musical and emotional impact of Britten’s War Requiem, a piece commissioned for the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral and dedicated to four men who lost their lives because of the war. Britten weaves together the traditional Latin Mass and poetry by Wilfred Owen and heavily features the unifying motif of the tritone, a haunting and unresolved interval.

Calling upon a symphony orchestra, a chamber ensemble, a large-scale choir, a boys’ choir, and three soloists, which only unify in the final minutes of the piece, the War Requiem ends at rest with a pleading sense of hope after vividly reminding us of the beautiful terrors of war and loss.