If you have ever sat in an audience and wished you were on stage, or simply wondered what it would feel like to be a performer rather than a listener, the Senior School Music department is giving you your chance!
On Tuesday, May 26, musicians and singers will present Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace. This work, written for soloists, choir and orchestra, is one of the most performed and loved pieces of our time. This epic work incorporates different world cultures and religions, as well as text from revered poets and writers.
We very much want this to be a performing opportunity for everyone in our extended community: students, faculty, staff, parents, alumni and friends. The goal is to bring our community together in a celebration of music, and in a unified call for peace.
The idea came about as we were looking for a performance to do with our combined choir, band and strings students. We performed The Armed Man in 2012 in collaboration with the Victoria Philharmonic Choir and it was a huge success; being such a popular work we decided we would do it again.
The combined school orchestra and choir will be the backbone of the ensemble, as well as a group of singers from the Victoria Philharmonic Choir. As such, there will be a contingent of adult choristers as well as many students. We also invite instrumentalists to consider the possibility of joining the orchestra.
At a time in our school’s history when we are starting to focus on the 50-year Jubilee of the joining of St. Michael's School and University School, we believe the coming together of different groups is a nice fit.
The first information meeting to introduce the piece, hand out music and confirm rehearsal times happens on Friday, March 13 at 3:45 pm in the Senior School choir room.
Please don’t let concerns of not being able to attend all rehearsals be a reason to miss this unique community event – we will make it work for you! There are several resources available to learn this piece, above and beyond the rehearsals, including individual voice parts being available online.
Please contact Peter Butterfield ([email protected]), Ian Farish ([email protected]) or myself, Donna Williams ([email protected]), with any questions or if you are interested.
If you would like to get a sense of the work, watch a performance of The Armed Man atop this post.
