Oratorio ‘Requiem for the Fallen’

Piano Concerto ‘Imagine New york’

Alto Saxophone Concerto ‘Springtime in Chicago’

Ave Maria

Symphony with Voices ‘Wat Is Life?’

Piano Concerto for the Left Hand ‘The Music Carver’

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These works share a message of hope

When I rode my bicycle through the crosses of Flanders’ World War One cemeteries, as a Belgian teenager, I was thinking of the poem ‘In Flanders Fields’ written during the first World War by the military Doctor, John McCrae.

Decades later, with these memories still on my mind, and having witnessed the Cold War, I understood the anguish of my parents and the need for hope. I composed ‘Requiem for the Fallen’ a vast oratorio for soprano, choir and orchestra based on ‘In Flanders Fields’. It became a tribute to the victims of wars and violence.

The first version of ‘Requiem’ was played in 2018 in a French town for the Centennial of WWI. Most players of the town youth orchestra had a relative who fought in that war. . *** In 2019, the expanded version of ‘Requiem for the Fallen’ premiered in New York at Carnegie Hall (Zankel Hall) and was attended by the Consul of Belgium. Two performances then took place in Moscow: in 2020, the U.S. Embassy underwrote a concert to commemorate the cooperation in WWII; and, in late 2021, a public concert for peace took place downtown at the Zurab Tsereteli (Apple Hall) Art Gallery. Afterwards, guests waved ‘heart’ and ‘I love you’ signs to us, watching on the computer from Washington. Leaning towards the screen, an Orthodox Bishop pointed to the golden cross on his chest and said that the Oratorio was ‘Music for Peace’. Clearly, the Russian public opposed the war but, ten weeks later, Ukraine was invaded. A war that, now in its fifth year, costs over a million lives.

‘Imagine New York’, the first piano concerto, opened the 2021 concert for peace. The Concerto evokes the view from the sky of New York’s Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. . *** Over the years since Covid, the World seems to slide away from mutual respect to violence and xenophobia, reminiscent of the 1930s. As an invitation to reflection, I composed ‘What Is Life?’ a large Symphony with Voices, for Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass, Choir and Orchestra, expanding on the Oratorio ‘Requiem for the Fallen’. . *** 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