Orchestra to perform Britten's War Requiem at West Midlands cathedral for Remembrance Day
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra will conduct an anniversary concert of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem on Remembrance Day, marking 50 years since the composer's death.
A much-loved Birmingham orchestra will head to Coventry Cathedral for a landmark performance of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem for a Remembrance Day performance.
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) will conduct an anniversary concert on Remembrance Day (November 11).
Benjamin Britten (1913–1976) was a well-known composer and pacifist who composed the piece in 1962.
Emma Stenning, Chief Executive at CBSO said: “War Requiem is not a comfortable piece. It is, as Britten intended, a reflection on war and a cry for peace, and in many ways could not be more prescient, or more urgently needed from an orchestra right now. We are not staging it as an act of nostalgia. We are staging it because it demands to be heard.”
She continued: “With 2026 marking 50 years since Benjamin Britten's death, we were thinking about how we best acknowledge his extraordinary and enduring music legacy. It felt natural to stage the piece that CBSO originally premiered, that is so symbolic of the orchestra’s relationship with the West Midlands. We are Birmingham's orchestra, and we celebrate the creative identity of the Midlands as a whole. This kind of event, dominated by such a sense of place and history, reminds us that the big artistic statements don't just happen in London, Edinburgh or Cardiff, they happen all over the country".
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