War Requiem
By Charlotte Stace
The Liceu are staging a production of the incredible War Requiem for 7 nights between October 23rd to November 2nd.
A masterpiece of universal music, the War Requiem was commissioned for the 1962 consecration of Coventry's new cathedral, built alongside ruins of the old cathedral which had been destroyed in the bombing raids of World War II. Composed by Benjamin Britten he included the following lines by the poet Wilfred Owen, who died in World War I: “My subject is War, and the pity of War. The poetry is in the pity... All a poet can do today is warn”
.Since then the trauma of war and Britten's powerful score have lost nothing of their impact and their ability to move us. The Requiem will be presented in a stage version directed by Daniel Kramer with the collaboration of the photographer and visual artist Wolfgang Tillmans, who expands on Britten's call for an end to all wars.