A "Global Sing for Peace" Will Commemorate the 10th Anniversary of 9/11 with Performances Around the World
Culminating in a Memorial Concert at New York's Lincoln Center, Featuring the Music of Karl Jenkins and René Clausen.
On September 11, 2011 at 2:00 p.m. at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, Karl Jenkins will host a concert with Distinguished Concerts International, New York (DCINY) to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Jenkins, one of the world's most popular living composers, will conduct his powerful work The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace along with the U.S. premiere of his recent work For The Fallen. The concert will also feature a piece by composer and conductor René Clausen entitled Memorial, which was composed specifically for the victims of 9/11. Although these three choral works are shot through with the terrors and tragedies of human violence, the ultimate message is one of transcendence, remembrance and a firm belief in the healing power of music.
In coordination with this important event, Boosey & Hawkes, along with EMI Classics and DCINY, is now inviting choruses around the world to take part in a Global Sing For Peace, urging them to perform either The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace or Memorial, in part or in their entirety, during the month of September 2011. Participating choruses will be featured in the DCINY program book at the September 11th commemorative concert and on the Global Sing for Peace website. Additionally, any photographs or video recordings of the performances will also be collected and displayed on the website (see below for details), creating a mosaic of voices unified in their call for peace on the anniversary of one of history's darkest hours.
ABOUT THE GLOBAL SING FOR PEACE
Choirs who wish to participate must program a performance of either Karl Jenkins's The Armed Man or René Clausen's Memorial (the works in their entirety or individual movements) at some point during the month of September 2011. An orchestra-only audio file of the "Agnus Dei" movement from The Armed Man can be downloaded free of charge at www.GlobalSingForPeace.org, providing a backing track which choirs can perform over without live orchestral accompaniment.
Participating ensembles are asked to sign up at www.GlobalSingForPeace.org with the details of their performance. There is no cost to be part of the Global Sing, and ensembles that sign up by August 1, 2011 will have their names included in the Lincoln Center Playbill program for the aforementioned September 11th Memorial concert at New York City's Avery Fisher Hall, as well as a listing on the Global Sing website.
Participants are also encouraged to document their performances either by taking photos or videos (can be professional, digital camera, cell phone, etc). Photos sent to [email protected] or videos uploaded to YouTube with the tag #globalsing will be displayed on the Global Sing webpage to create an online library representing the Global Sing for Peace community.
From Karl Jenkins:
"This is your opportunity to dedicate your performance at home to the commemoration marking 10 years since the tragedy of 9/11. For those who cannot be in New York, join us in spirit. Sign up to show your support and spread the word."
From René Clausen:
"The reason I wrote this piece [was] to express the powerful emotions that gripped all of us on that horrific day, to find a way to hope, and the possibility of finding common ground. Please consider signing up for the Global Sing for Peace—the world needs YOUR voice!"
The Global Sing for Peace was conceived by DCINY in association with their partners, EMI Classics, Boosey & Hawkes, Roger Dean Publishing Company, and the Welsh Government, to create this unique experience. "The idea of Global Sing for Peace came from the desire to invite choirs from around the world to be a participant in the Commemorative Concert. We want to bring musicians from around the world together to lift their voices in song for peace," said Jonathan Griffith, DCINY Artistic Director.
ABOUT THE WORKS
The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace (by Karl Jenkins) has firmly established itself as one of the most successful choral works of our time. The epic composition features Jenkins's signature use of world music elements and has been performed over 900 times in over 30 countries. Commissioned jointly by The Royal Armouries of Britain and Classic FM in the UK, The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace was initially inspired by the Kosovan conflict, and still resounds as a universal message for peace.
"In a rapturous performance, by turns visceral and ethereal, the Mass was a firebomb of orchestral and human voices."
—The Times (UK) on Jenkins's The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace
For The Fallen (by Karl Jenkins) is a new setting of Laurence Binyon's iconic poem of remembrance, originally arranged for choir, narrator, trumpet, and organ. The work is dedicated to the memory of the composer's viola-playing uncle, Pilot Officer Alfryn Jenkins, a soldier lost in action, together with his all-Welsh crew, during a raid over Berlin in 1944.
Memorial (by René Clausen), a composition for mixed chorus, orchestra, and baritone solo was written in 2003 to commemorate the victims of 9/11. The work has sections titled "September Morning", "The Attack", "Prayers", and "Petitions" but the text never specifically mentions September 11th itself.
ABOUT THE COMPOSERS
Karl Jenkins is one of the most performed living composers in the world with seventeen gold and platinum disc awards. Born in Wales, Jenkins studied the oboe and graduated from Cardiff University, followed by post-graduate studies at London's Royal College of Music. A passion for jazz—he was a member of the bands Nucleus and Soft Machine—led him to composition. Among his numerous awards, Jenkins was awarded an OBE, by Her Majesty The Queen, in the 2005 New Year's Honors List and a CBE in the 2010 Birthday Honors List "for services to music."
René Clausen is a celebrated American composer and the conductor of The Concordia Choir, and associate professor of music at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota.
ABOUT DISTINGUISHED CONCERTS INTERNATIONAL NEW YORK (DCINY)
Founded by Iris Derke (General Director) and Jonathan Griffith (Artistic Director and Principal Conductor), Distinguished Concerts International is driven by passion, innovative vision, a total belief in its artists, and unwavering commitment to bringing forth unforgettable audience experiences. With over 25 combined years of experience, DCINY is a creative producing entity with unmatched integrity that is a talent incubator, a star-maker, and a presenter of broadly accessible, world-class musical entertainment.
>For more information, visit the Global Sing for Peace website.
>To watch the Boosey & Hawkes documentary "Jenkins on Jenkins", click here.
