Benjamin Britten WAR REQUIEM

Inga Kalna (soprano, Latvia/Germany)

Tomas Clayton (tenor, UK)

Viktor Rud (baritone, Ukraine/Germany)

State Choir LATVIJA

Boys choir AŽUOLIUKAS (Lithuania)

Latvian National Symphony orchestra

Conductor Zbigniew Graca

Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem was composed in 1961 and premiered on May 30, 1962, at Coventry Cathedral to mark its reconsecration after being destroyed during World War II. The composer dedicated the piece to friends who had perished in the war, intending it as both a testament to his anti-war convictions and a warning to future generations about the senselessness and horror of bloodshed.

War Requiem was met with immediate critical acclaim, won the admiration of audiences, and was hailed as a masterpiece, receiving performances across Britain and beyond. Its widespread appeal may have been strengthened by Britten’s powerful fusion of the traditional Latin Mass text with the poetry of Wilfred Owen—nine of Owen’s poems are interwoven into the requiem.

Owen, who tragically lost his life just a week before the end of the war, once wrote of himself and his poetry: “I am not concerned with poetry. My subject is War, and the pity of War. The poetry is in the pity. (…) All a poet can do today is warn. That is why the true poet must be truthful.”

This event is dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.