Phoenix Choir of Crawley's Peace Concert

British composer Sir John Rutter wrote A Ukrainian Prayer in 2022, in response to the war in Ukraine. The words are a plea to God to protect and save the Ukrainian people.  The composer made the work freely available for choirs to perform, asking only that a donation be made to help the people of Ukraine.  Phoenix Choir of Crawley will be performing this work in our concert on 21st March, 6pm at St Andrew’s Church in Furnace Green.  The choir will donate to the British Red Cross designated fund for the people of Ukraine, and the audience attending the concert will have an opportunity to add to this donation, if they wish.  

The choir will be joined by professional instrumentalists for the main work in the concert - The Armed Man by Sir Karl Jenkins.  The Welsh composer was commissioned to write this work by Britain’s Royal Armouries in 2000 to mark the millennium, which was dedicated to the victims of the Kosovo conflict of the late 1900s.   The first recording, released in September 2001, on what happened to be the day before the twin towers’ attacks in the USA. 

The rousing brass in the Sanctus and the beautiful melodious cello solo in the Benedictus soon became frequently requested on classical radio stations.  Less well-known movements include the Hymn Before Action, with words by Rudyard Kipling, and Angry Flames, which uses words by the Japanese poet Togi Sankichi vividly describing the physical and emotional aftermath of the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

Other works on the theme of peace will include John Lennon’s Imagine, Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind and Where Have All the Flowers Gone? by Pete Seeger, which in the 1960s became an anthem for anti-Vietnam war protesters.

The concert at St Andrew’s Church, Furnace Green, RH10 6NU, on Saturday 21st November will start at 6pm, with doors opening at 5.30pm. Tickets for adults are £16 each on the door, or £15 if paid for in advance from Ticketsource or directly from Phoenix Choir (send a request to [email protected] or call 07821 872666).  Tickets for children aged 16 or under are free, and £7 for full-time students aged 17 or over.