Love, loss and hope in horror of war

MUSIC and war would seem to be polar opposite in the spectrum of human activity, yet it is music associated with war that is among the most treasured works in the canon of classical music. 

When words fail, Britain reaches for the balm of Elgar’s Nimrod while America opts for the pathos of Barber’s Adagio. A musical response to the Holocaust lifted Polish composer Gorecki to the top of the charts in the 1990s, while more recently, an opera charting the turbulence of war and peace in the WWI trenches earned Kevin Puts a Pulitzer Prize and a European premiere at Wexford Festival this year.

Into the maelstrom of commemorative activity associated with WW1 and 1916, the much-lauded Cork choir Voci Nuove, under their newly-appointed MD Lynsey Callaghan, join forces with the recently formed Laetare Vocal Ensemble to explore themes of conflict, love and loss in an evocative programme that responds to war and adversity in many different ways. Featuring some of the most accomplished professional singers in the country, the programme, scheduled for two November dates in Dublin and Cork, features works from across cultures and centuries together with music from some of Ireland’s top contemporary composers.