2013 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Benjamin Britten
Wagner and Verdi may be headlining this major anniversary year for classical music, but 2013 also marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Benjamin Britten. In a clamorous schedule of celebratory events across the country, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s War Requiem is a standout.
Premiered by the CBSO in the newly-rebuilt Coventry Cathedral some 50 years ago, Britten’s War Requiem paired the ritual text of the Requiem Mass with Wilfred Owen’s sardonic poetry to create a lament for our time.
Listeners will be summoned to Judgement Day by one of the country’s most virtuosic brass sections, and English tenor Mark Padmore—surely the natural heir to Britten’s own soloist Peter Pears—will be joined by soprano Kristine Opolais and the excellent CBSO chorus. It may not be long before the CBSO’s music director Andris Nelsons moves on to bigger things, so don’t miss an opportunity to see perhaps the finest conductor of his generation tackle a contemporary English masterwork with the orchestra for which it was written.
Symphony Hall, Birmingham, 28th May
Wagner and Verdi may be headlining this major anniversary year for classical music, but 2013 also marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Benjamin Britten. In a clamorous schedule of celebratory events across the country, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s War Requiem is a standout.
Premiered by the CBSO in the newly-rebuilt Coventry Cathedral some 50 years ago, Britten’s War Requiem paired the ritual text of the Requiem Mass with Wilfred Owen’s sardonic poetry to create a lament for our time.
Listeners will be summoned to Judgement Day by one of the country’s most virtuosic brass sections, and English tenor Mark Padmore—surely the natural heir to Britten’s own soloist Peter Pears—will be joined by soprano Kristine Opolais and the excellent CBSO chorus. It may not be long before the CBSO’s music director Andris Nelsons moves on to bigger things, so don’t miss an opportunity to see perhaps the finest conductor of his generation tackle a contemporary English masterwork with the orchestra for which it was written.
Symphony Hall, Birmingham, 28th May
