War Requiem: Ashkenazy conducts Britten at Sydney Opera House, Concert Hall

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2. War Requiem: Ashkenazy conducts Britten

1961 – the Berlin Wall, Cuba, Vietnam. 1961 – Coventry Cathedral, destroyed in an air raid during World War II, is rebuilt. 1961 – music’s most famous pacifist, Benjamin Britten, composes his War Requiem for performance in the new cathedral.

This ambitious and daring music caused an immediate sensation. It combined the traditional words of the Latin Requiem mass with anti-war poems by Wilfred Owen. It drew on huge forces – two choirs, two orchestras and three soloists.

The intended soloists carried symbolic weight: an English tenor and a German baritone (“I am the enemy you killed, my friend”) and a Russian soprano. Our cast represents the same mix of nationalities. And while half a century has elapsed, this protest against the horrors of war retains its power to do what Britten hoped: to make us “think a bit”.

BRITTEN War Requiem