The Armed Man: A Mass For Peace, by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins, will be conducted by David Burchell and will feature soloists Jesse Hanan (treble), Sophie Gangl (soprano), Claire Barton (mezzo-soprano), Ben France-Hudson (tenor), Nigel Tucker (bass) and Dhafir Moussa (muezzin — a person appointed at a mosque to lead and recite the call to prayer).
City Choir Dunedin chairwoman Leta Labuschagne said the performance would be "huge".
"We will have 120 choir singers on stage, there are six soloists, Norma the organ will join 30 members of the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra to provide the instrumental support, and there will be two huge screens on either side of the organ, on to which a film will be projected."
She said the event was the choir’s celebration of the end of World War 2 and "our wish for world peace".
"Jenkins expresses his optimistic hope of farewelling the war-torn 20th century in this captivating, emotional work that offers so much promise.
"Some reviewers consider The Armed Man to be an emotional roller coaster, describing it as ‘so relevant to our times, haunting and, at times, confronting’, ‘utterly absorbing’, and ‘thrilling and devastating by turns’."
Mrs Labuschagne said the performance would be enhanced by the simultaneous showing of The Armed Man film.
"The film was created by Jenkins’ good friend, Hefin Owen, to complement the music through historic and contemporary images of many aspects of war and its impact on the world.
"The film echoes the work — the build-up to conflict, conflict itself and the aftermath, finally looking forward to a better future."
Never one to define himself by one set of beliefs, Jenkins used myriad inspirations for the text of the mass, including the Muslim call to prayer, the 16th-century "L’Homme arme" Mass tradition, ancient religious texts, as well as texts from classic poets such as Rudyard Kipling, Alfred Lord Tennyson and Sankichi Toge, who survived the Hiroshima bombing.
Mrs Labuschagne said the choir was fortunate to find muezzin Dhafir Moussa, because Dunedin did not have a muezzin.
Mr Moussa will travel from Auckland today, to perform in the mass.
"The Muslim Call to Prayers creates a haunting atmosphere.
"His contribution will add an interesting cultural element to the performance."
The piece was composed in 1999 for the Royal Armouries Museum for the Millennium celebrations, to mark the museum’s move from London to Leeds, and it was dedicated to victims of the Kosovo crisis.
The work is so popular with audiences, it is performed about twice weekly somewhere in the world, and is the highest-placed work by a living composer in the Classic FM Hall of Fame.
"In July 2016, it was performed for the 2000th time in the Royal Albert Hall, London, and its high time the complete work was performed in Dunedin," Mrs Labuschagne said.
The mass begins at 7.30pm in the Dunedin Town Hall.
