Blessed are the Peacemakers 2018

The year 2018 was for me largely focused on the centenery of the end of Worl War 1
As we hadn’t done much to commeorate the centenery of the beginning of World War 1 in 2014 (mainly because we concentrated the year on the celebrations of 400 years the Hanoverarian kings on the British Throne), I felt I should really create a memorable project around it. However, I really wanted to look into the question, who were the people who opposed the war, who wanted to stop it, who worked, often now forgotten, in the background to end the fighting. I contacted several cathedrals, churches and venues related to the war in the UK, in France and in Belgium and offered to sing services, concerts and memorial events for this occasion. The cathedrals then chose a peacemaker who had a relevance to them. 11 cathedrals and 6 venues took part.
For this occasion I commissioned Orlando Gough to write a cycle of a cappella choral pieces on English and German texts from WWI, which we performed during the concerts and services.
The project was funded by a private bank as well as a two charities.

Notre Dame, Paris
August 26 2017

Ypres Menin Gate, Belgium
August 4 2018

Liverpool Cathedral
November 18 2018

St Paul's Cathedral
November 5 2018

Highgate Cemetery
July 21 2018

Canterbury Cathedral
September 21 2018

Coventry Cathedral
October 13 2018

York Minster
May 28 2018

Bradford Cathedral
May 27 2018

Brussels Cathedral
August 5 2018

Winchester Cathedral
October 6 2018

Wells Cathedral
February 27 2018

Lichfield Cathedral
November 17 2018

St James Paddington
September 13 2018

Langemarck Cemetery
Belgium
August 4 2018

Wakefield Cathedral
May 27 2018
