Shrewsbury peace concert will have Ukraine collection
A choral concert being held in Shrewsbury on Saturday, after many months of planning has assumed topical significance in the light of events in the Ukraine and will now include a collection towards disaster relief in that country.
Shrewsbury Cantata Choir, conducted by Anthony Coupe, will be performing The Peacemakers by Karl Jenkins and also a Prayer for Ukraine at St Chad's Church at 7.30pm. There will be a collection for the Disasters Emergency Committee at the door.
Mr Coupe said: "We started planning work on The Peacemakers last summer. It is an inspiring piece that transcends boundaries by fusing the worlds of popular, classical and world music.
"We wanted to reach a wider audience, but back then we had no idea that there could be such a war here in Europe when we came to perform.
"Now, suddenly and tragically, the subject matter seems all too timely which is why we’ve added the hymn to Ukraine to our programme and arranged a collection for the Disasters Emergency Committee."
Karl Jenkins, formerly of the Soft Machine, is one of Britain’s best-known composers and is widely performed. He composed The Peacemakers in 2011 as a work extolling peace, both as an absence of war and as a state of inner calm.
The text uses words from prominent individuals such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa and the Persian mystic poet Rumi. The orchestra contains a wide range of instruments from various non-European musical traditions, emphasising that the idea of peace is greater than any one single culture. There is also a children’s choir.
Tickets are £15, with students, unwaged and under-18s free, and are available at shrewsburycantatachoir.org.uk, from choir members, or on the door.
