Pilgrim Festival Chorus performs “The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace”

Pilgrim Festival Chorus (PFC), the region’s principal community choral group will perform “The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace”, the second concert in their 2010-2011 season.  The concert will take place at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 1, at The Church of the Pilgrimage, 8 Town Square in Plymouth.  PFC Music Director, William B. Richter, will conduct the 80-member chorus, soloists, 15-piece orchestra, with PFC accompanist Elizabeth Chapman Reilly featured on pipe organ.

Something of a departure from PFC’s customary repertoire of classical masterworks, “The Armed Man” is a modern composition premiered in 2000 by the National Musicians Symphony Orchestra at The Royal Albert Hall in London.  A creation of Welsh composer Karl Jenkins, the commissioned work honored the victims of the Kosovo crisis in its debut celebrating the millennium at the Royal Armouries Museum.  Thematically, “The Armed Man” evokes timeless images depicting the dramatic effects of war, and the resulting human anguish. 

“Jenkins communicates the notion that war is not the remedy for settling conflict,” says Richter, “He comprehends that humanity lacks the ability to cope with the wartime environment, carefully sculpt the concept in his musical imagination, portraying the experience through performance.” 

The piece begins with the 15^th century French marching song L’homme armé, a tune which was associated with dozens of mass settings during the Renaissance.  Jenkins integrates powerful dynamics and vivid imagery to demonstrate an escalating mood, as vocalists and instrumentalists portray rhythmic chanting troops, their marching advances, inducing uncertainty and courage.  A poignant melody later returns in the last movement, annihilating the previous call to arms with a promise of peace.

Utilizing four languages (French, Latin, Arabic, and English), Jenkins draws upon textual sources as diverse as the Mahabharata (6^th c. BC), the Roman poet Horace (1^st century BC), Malory (15^th century), Dryden(17^th century), Tennyson and Kipling (19^th century), and the words of a Hiroshima survivor (20^th century), as well as selected movements of the Catholic Mass.  Similarly, musical styles range from the ancient to the modern, all used to depict the text both graphically and sensitively. The intentional use of many diverse styles surface the idea that war is universal:  it has been engrained in the human condition for all time, however, humanity can still aspire to peaceful resolution.  The work concludes with a sublime chorale setting of verses from the Book of Revelation, “God shall wipe away all tears”. 

“The melodic artistry represented here will enthrall our audience,” says Richter, “Not only can they expect a concert performance, but an epic commentary experience that will reverberate in their own recollections and in today’s volatile environment around the world.”

Appropriate to the phenomenon of winter resolving to spring, or Lent transitioning to Easter, “The Armed Man” also concurs with a mood shift towards reconciliation. “With the current conditions of the world, this storyline is without season,” says Richter.  The piece was incidentally released on September 11, 2001, today known as “9/11” the occurrence of the suicide attacks on the United States by al-Qaeda.  Internationally well received, “The Armed Man” is touted as the most performed work by a living composer in the world today, according to a recent survey, nearing 1000 performances to date. 

General seating tickets for the performance are priced at $20, with a discounted rate of $15 for students and $18 for senior citizens.  Advance tickets may be purchased online at www.pilgrimfestival.org, and are available at Plymouth Center for the Arts, 11 North Street, Plymouth 508-746-7222; and from PFC members.  To reserve tickets by phone, please call Eileen McCaffrey at 508-866-7895.  For more information please visit www.pilgrimfestival.org, or follow Pilgrim Festival Chorus on Facebook.