A new, professional vocal ensemble and chamber orchestra founded and directed by Warren Puffer Jones and based in Oklahoma City, Tactus offered a concert on Sunday, October 21st commemorating the 100th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended World War I, the performance presented on the Kemp Concert Series at Oklahoma City's First Presbyterian Church. Remembering the suffering caused by war throughout the centuries, the program features works written during the Thirty Years War which began 400 years ago, when conflict and plague ravaged Europe, juxtaposed with music written during the years of the First World War, and includes pieces by composers who fought in the trenches. Settings of prayers for peace are joined by ballads, songs, tone poems and elegies and include scorings for choir, string orchestra, solo voice and mixed ensembles. Featured composers include Francis Poulenc, Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Heinrich Schütz, George Butterworth, John Burge, Herbert Howells, Ivor Gurney, Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, and Arvo Pärt.
This program airs Saturday, November 17th, 8pm on Classical 88.7 HD-1.