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4 unusual facts about War Requiem


Bradford Festival Choral Society

Two performances of Britten’s War Requiem, in 1964 and 1967, are particularly remembered.

Fairhaven Singers

The choir performs mainly in Cambridge but has also appeared several times at Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Suffolk, including concerts at the Aldeburgh Festival and Britten's War Requiem at the Britten Festival; at major venues in London, including St Martin-in-the-Fields and St John's Smith Square; and at various concert venues in Europe.

Jonathan Gregory

Throughout his career, Gregory has been a regular concert performer, giving performances in the UK of oratorios and orchestral music, including Bach’s St Matthew Passion, St John Passion, Mass in B Minor, Christmas Oratorio, Elgar’s Apostles, Handel’s Messiah and Britten’s War Requiem.

Richard Sparks

He remained there until 2001, during which time he directed the choir in Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, Bach's Mass in B Minor and St. John Passion, Igor Stravinsky's Les Noces, Sergei Rachmaninoff's Vespers, Johannes Brahms's Liebeslieder Walzer, and Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem.


Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

The full ASO Chorus has thrice visited Berlin, giving three performances on each occasion of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem (2003), Hector Berlioz's Grande Messe des Morts (2008), and Johannes Brahms's Ein Deutsches Requiem (2009) with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under ASO Principal Guest Conductor Donald Runnicles.

Clancy Chassay

In his childhood Chassay was briefly a child actor, appearing in two Derek Jarman films, as the young Ludwig Wittgenstein in Jarman's 1993 film Wittgenstein and the young Wilfred Owen, alongside Laurence Olivier, in Jarman's 1988 film War Requiem.

Jennifer Vyvyan

She was also known for her interpretations of the soprano solos in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Britten's War Requiem, and Bach's St John Passion and St Matthew Passion.

Lucilla Udovich

She made other appearances with the Santa Cecilia Orchestra in Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle, in Verdi's Requiem, and Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle; and with the RAI Orchestra in Peter Grimes and Britten's War Requiem, and Schönberg's Gurre-Lieder.


see also

Holland Festival

Notable world premieres included the definitive version of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem and Karlheinz Stockhausen's Helikopter-Streichquartett.