Oratorio ‘Requiem for the Fallen’

Piano Concerto ‘Imagine New york’

Alto Saxophone Concerto ‘Springtime in Chicago’

Piano Concerto for the Left Hand ‘From war to Peace’

Piano Toccata ’Resolve and Pride’

Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra ‘Four Seasons in the Everglades’

Cantata ‘Walk in Harmony…’

Ave Maria

***

These works have in common a message of hope

As a Belgian teenager, when I rode my bicycle through the crosses of Flanders’ World War One cemeteries, 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 and was attended by the Consul of Belgium. Two performances took place in Moscow: in 2020, the U.S. Embassy underwrote a concert to commemorate the cooperation in WWII. In late 2021, a public concert for peace took place at an art gallery downtown. Afterwards, guests waved ‘heart’ and ‘I love you’ signs to us, watching live on the computer from Washington. An Orthodox Bishop pointed to the golden cross on his chest and said that the Oratorio was ‘Music for Peace’. Clearly, the Russian public was opposed to war but, ten weeks later, Ukraine was invaded. A war that, now in its fifth year, is costing well over a million lives…

‘Imagine New York’, the first piano concerto, opened the 2021 concert for peace in Moscow. The Concerto evokes my memories of the Statue of Liberty and the discovery of New York City after landing in the early 1970s, as an immigrant, to meet the family of my fiancee. Little did I know that, decades later, I would compose this piano concerto to commemorate the view, from the sky, of New York’s Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. . *** At times, over the years, the world seems to slide back in cycles of war and violence. Human rights are threatened. In reaction, I put the final touches to the composition of ‘From War to Peace’, a Left-Hand Piano Concerto enticing reflections on violence and brotherhood, starting with a robust toccata and concluding with optimism on a swelling bolero dance. . *** 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