War Requiem: In Pictures

As part of its Commemorate Season, and in its most ambitious project to date, the College performed one of the most iconic pieces of the 20th century, Britten’s War Requiem, conducted by Carlo Rizzi – one of the College’s International Chairs in Music.*

Featuring the College’s entire classical music cohort, it was performed at Cardiff’s St David’s Hall on Remembrance Sunday. The stellar cast included Alwyn Mellor, Simon Keenlyside (another of the College’s International Chairs in Music*) and Adrian Thompson, who was in Britten’s original Children’s Choir.

“The College is used to making music of the highest professional standard, but this time it involved our whole musical community, marking this moving occasion with the biggest concert it has ever produced,” explained Chorus Master Neil Ferris. ”There were nearly 500 people on St David’s stage, and of course, movingly, most of our students were about the same age as many of those young men who went off to their death.“

Carlo Rizzi rehearsing with students at BBC’s Hoddinott Hall

This performance fulfilled a long-standing ambition of conductor Carlo Rizzi, who heard it for the first time when he was 14 and resolved that one day he would conduct it. “I can’t express how privileged I felt to explore this masterpiece with the students of the Royal Welsh College. After performing the Verdi Requiem together in 2012, I wanted the chance to inspire these dedicated young musicians again with my experience and to be inspired once more by their talent, enthusiasm and energy.”

The Chorus united 300 of the College’s music students

Tenor Adrian Thompson was in Britten’s Children’s Choir and credits Britten, a friend and mentor to him in his childhood and teens, with jump-starting his singing career. “His guidance made a huge impact on me,” says Thompson, who had just come back from a Britten tour in Barcelona. “If it hadn’t been for it, I doubt I’d be here today.”

Adrian Thompson and Britten exchanged letters and postcards until Britten’s death in 1976

The RWCMD Children’s Chorus was made up of choirs from Wells Cathedral School, Radyr’s Ysgol Bryn Deri and The Royal Welsh College’s Junior Conservatoire.

*International Chairs at RWCMD are supported by the Jane Hodge Foundation.