Choral gatherings don't come much bigger than what Ian Jones has planned.
The chorus master extraordinaire leads his Cumbria Choral Initiative into a new phase on Saturday, November 12 (7.30pm), when the biggest sea of singers and musicians he has managed to summon so far perform Benjamin Britten's War Requiem at Kendal Parish Church.
Written for the opening in 1962 of Coventry's new cathedral, the work has symbolised the message of peace ever since.
Poems by the great First World War poet Wilfred Owen are interwoven with the text of the requiem mass in a magnificent musical canvas scored for two orchestras, three soloists, a large adult chorus and a children's choir.
As usual with CCI projects, local performers are at the very heart of the performance.
The New Millennium Chorus draws its members mainly from South Lakeland, though such is the interest in staging Britten's that Ian says it has attracted singers from as far afield as Durham, Harrogate, Preston, Cockermouth and Carlisle.
The children's chorus is courtesy of Kendal's Queen Katherine School Chamber Choir, trained by Lesley Talbot; the orchestras, led by Roland Fudge and Julian Cann, feature familiar faces from the Lakeland Sinfonia, the Westmorland and the Haffner orchestras together with the Serafin Quartet.
Soprano Elizabeth Traill, who last visited Kendal in CCI's spectacular performance of Carmina Burana in 2004; Nicholas Hurndall Smith, who is a firm favourite with local choirs and audiences; and John Lofthouse, a native of Levens with many other local connections and who has also sung frequently with local choirs, are the soloists.
All will combine to produce huge waves of sound across the Kendal church and at other times, smaller groups will perform with lighter and gentler textures.
Ian says part of the idea of the piece is to have the children singing from the back of the church accompanied by the chamber organ, and the choir and soprano soloist in the north chapel along with the main orchestra. Nicholas and John, who sing Owen's poems accompanied by a chamber orchestra, will be placed towards the centre of the church.
"Many of us feel very strongly that this piece has much to say in our present troubled world," Ian points out.
"For me personally, I was bowled over by the piece when, as a teenager, I first heard it and the opportunity to conduct it with so many friends on Remembrance Weekend will have very special significance."
Tickets are adults £8/ children £2 and are available at the door, from Specsavers at Kendal, or on 01539-730590.
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