7.30pm on Saturday, 5 April 2025 at the Transitional Cathedral, 234 Hereford Street, Christchurch 8011.

The Jubilate Singers are performing works which recall the aftermath of war, accompanied by Samantha Poh, the assistant organist at the Transitional Cathedral.

A short piece in Ukranian (Shchedryk) will be followed by a slightly abridged Te Deum by Arthur Sullivan which is Victorian pomp at its finest. That will be followed by Philip Norman's Pro Patria for which he has composed pieces using World War I poetry by contemporaries of Wilfred Owen. In the course of its eight short movements we are left in no doubt as to the brutal truth of "The Old Lie" (Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori).

The feature work is the Requiem by Durufle which was commissioned in 1942 by the Vichy Government during the German occupation of France. Perhaps deliberately, Duruflé did not finish his commission until the close of World War II. Often described as "the last impressionist", Duruflé draws on Gregorian chants and includes beautiful settings of Pie Jesu and In Paradisum. The composer noted "that it reflects, in the unchanging form of Christian prayer, the anguish of man faced with the mystery of his end." It is widely regarded as a masterpiece.