- Requiem for the Fallen -

Oratorio for soprano, choir and orchestra

- Between war and Peace -

Left hand piano concerto

The famed wartime poem ‘In Flanders Fields’, was written at the battlefront during WWI. Many decades later, as a teenager, I read the poem and rode my bike through the crosses of Flanders Fields.

In time for the centennial of the end of WWI, I composed the Oratorio ‘Requiem for the Fallen’ as a tribute to the countless victims of World Wars I and II. I used ‘In Flanders Fields’ for lyrics because of these verses: ‘To you… we throw the torch; if ye break faith with us who die we shall not sleep’. Freedom is not free.

During WWII, on D-day June 6, 1944, thanks to American leadership and War effort, the Allied troops secured the beachhead in Normandy, which, a year later, would lead to the freedom of Europe. The thousands who fell on Disembarkment day, never knew what the world owes them for their sacrifice.

In December 1944 and January 1945, under American Command, the Allied Forces won the decisive Battle of the Bulge, in the Ardennes, while, on the Eastern European front, the Russian efforts were equally successful. . *** The Oratorio ‘Requiem for the Fallen’ was first played in 2018 in southwest France for the Centennial of WWI. The mayors of two towns attended the event in the church of Saint-Clar, Fleurance. Most of the young players in the orchestra had a relative who fought in WWI. In 2019, the large version of the Oratorio premiered at Carnegie Hall, New York, with the Consul of Belgium attending.

Performances of the Oratorio also took place in Moscow at events for peace. The U.S. Embassy underwrote the December 2020 concert to commemorate the WWII alliance and, in December 2021, a public concert for peace took place downtown. Afterwards, guests waved ‘heart’ and ‘I love you’ hand signs over Zoom to us in Washington, and a Bishop, pointing to the golden cross on his chest, called the Oratorio ‘Music for Peace’.

Tragically, merely ten weeks later, Russia started invading Ukraine. Four years later and after more than a million of casualties, the fratricidal war is still raging. . *** The first Piano Concerto ‘Imagine New York’, evoking Freedom and the Statue of Liberty, opened the December 2021 Moscow concert and, in 2023, still thinking of ways to revive reflections on peace, I started work on the second Piano Concerto, ‘Between War and Peace’, for percussive and melodic left hand.

This Concerto is an homage to all the victims of violence, and concludes with a swelling bolero, an expression of collective respect and a festive popular dance. . *** Artworks reflect the events and values of the time of their creation. What does it say about mankind when works like the Oratorio ‘Requiem for the Fallen’ or the Piano Concerto ‘Between War and Peace’ receive attention in a world unwilling to live in peace? . *** Videos of the Oratorio ‘Requiem for the Fallen’, the Piano Concerto ‘Imagine New York’ and other works are posted under VIDEOS. Since 2023, pandemic and wars have prevented additional events.

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our places; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
in Flanders Fields.

by: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae
MD (1872 – 1918)
Canadian Army