Choruses, ensemble to perform ‘The Armed Man’

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

SDLqThe Armed Man: A Mass for Peace,” the masterwork by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins, will be performed at 6 p.m. May 4 at Stambaugh Auditorium, 1000 Fifth Ave.

The most-frequently programmed new choral-orchestral work of recent decades, “The Armed Man” will be presented by the Stambaugh Chorus and the Dana Symphonic Choir, led by Stephen Gage and Hae-Jong Lee, respectively, and the Youngstown State University Wind Ensemble.

“‘The Armed Man’ has been performed nearly 1,300 times all over the world since the premiere in 2000,” said Lee. “It is particularly significant to perform this year, as we commemorate the centenary of the start of the first World War and the 75th anniversary of the outbreak of the second World War.”

The Dana School of Music and the Stambaugh Chorus are collaborating on the performance.

Tickets are $10 (YSU and high school students, $5) at the box office, by phone at 330-259-0555 and online at stambaughauditorium.com.

“Presenting ‘The Armed Man’ gives university students and seasoned adults from all walks of life an opportunity to share a wonderful musical experience, and allows us to perform masterwork pieces that are meant for a large venue,” said Barb Modic, president of Stambaugh Chorus. “Stambaugh Auditorium is a perfect venue for our collaboration.”

“The Armed Man” was commissioned by the Royal Armories Museum, Britain’s oldest national museum.

The museum, which has long served as a reminder of the horror of war, organized a series of concerts to celebrate the millennium featuring some of the “L’homme Arme” masses of the late 15th and 16th centuries.

“L’homme Arme,” which was originally a secular song of the 15th century, became popular because, at that time, many composers wrote masses using the melody of the song in some way. Its theme that “the armed man must be feared” has become especially relevant today, so the idea of commissioning a modern “L’homme Arme” mass was a natural way to mark the occasion.

Jenkins started composing “The Armed Man” just as the tragedy in Kosovo unfolded. The composer dedicated the work to the victims of the war in Kosovo, and the release of the CD coincided almost to the day with the destruction of the World Trade Center towers in September of 2001.

A film by director Hefin Owen on “The Armed Man” will accompany the Stambaugh presentation.

The concert will begin with “Glory Days,” composed by YSU faculty David Morgan, and “Winter Sky” by Stephen Barr. Senior YSU Wind Ensemble members will be introduced and recognized before they perform “Slava!” by Leonard Bernstein.

The Stambaugh Chorus and Dana Symphonic Choir will perform “Prayer of Children” by Kurt Bestor, and then all groups will perform the 13 movements of “The Armed Man.”

Soloists will include Rebecca Enlow, soprano, in movements 3 and 13; Lisa Gonzalez, soprano, in movement 8; Kathryn Kramer, mezzo soprano, in movements 8, 11 and13; Victor Cardamone, tenor, in movements 8 and 13; and Raymond Wagner Jr., baritone, in movements 8 and 13.