Chromatica Orchestra: Music and Readings for Armistice Day

On Armistice Day Chromatica Orchestra presents an evening of music and readings that provides space for reflection while reminding us that mankind's capacity for creating art of extraordinary beauty endures even the darkest of times.

The concert opens with the first and last orchestral works by George Butterworth, a composer whose folk-tune filled music has come to symbolise the sacrifice made by his generation and who himself was killed fighting in the Battle of the Somme.

Strauss’s Horn Concerto No 1 is a wonderfully melodic and virtuosic showcase for the horn with fanfares, hunting calls and a poignantly lyrical, contemplative second movement.

Readings from poems by A E Housmann and W H Auden are followed by Ben Goldscheider performing Finnish composer Essa-Pekka Salonen’s posthumous tribute to his beloved horn teacher from within the audience. That leads into the final piece, Shostakovich’s spirited symphony for strings dedicated to ‘the victims of fascism and war’.