On Sussex Soil – Wadhurst arts’ charity promotes major month long event to commemorate WW1 dead – featuring music associated with Sussex, including two world premieres
Wadhurst Culture, one of Britain’s smallest arts charities, in a village of only 5000 people, is to hold a unique month long commemoration of World War 1 in May 2015. The programme, announced today, includes two world premieres.
In the Field, the Concert, to take place on Saturday 2 May at 7.30 St Peter & St Paul Church, will include a brand new choral piece by composer Helen Ottaway, from Artmusic, (On Sussex soil) to be sung by the Field Choir (community choir with members aged from 10 to 80). The concert will also include a piece by Tippett (the tune: Wadhurst) and the premiere of a piece entitled Aubers Ridge by local composer Stuart Fifield, a concert march performed by Wadhurst Brass Band.
Renowned musician Howard Moody (who is based in Sussex and has worked with the LSO and John Surman) will conduct the Field Choir. Also taking part in the concert are the Sussex-based Bernardi String Quartet, Wadhurst Brass Band, Bellringers and organist Robert Fuller.
The selected music all has strong links with Sussex – ranging from Vaughan Williams – the Lark Ascending (Andrew Bernardi, violin; Howard Moody, organ) written in 1914 for violin and piano. Vaughan Williams collected folk songs in Sussex and wrote several works inspired by Sussex folk songs. The Field Choir will also be singing Sussex folk songs as collected by George Butterworth (who was also killed in WW1) including The Cuckoo and Green Bushes
In the Field is a major new site-specific arts project commissioned to reflect on the deaths of 25 young men from Wadhurst at the Battle of Aubers Ridge on 9th May 1915. Wadhurst Culture commissioned Artmusic to develop a new composition. This choral work will also feature in an interactive sound installation which will run throughout May 2015, creating a collage of music and sound shaped by the presence and movement of visitors to the Church. The project has been developed since May 2014 with the participation of the whole community in a range of arts and historical events.
Helen Ottaway, composer said:
It’s not difficult for us to imagine now what impact such a high loss of life would have had on the village and Wadhurst has a strong tradition of remembrance as well as of historical research. Setting poems by local school children to music last year I was struck by how strongly young people today can identify with their counterparts of 100 years ago and how movingly they express themselves. I feel privileged to be invited to write new music to mark this centenary and I’m thrilled to be able to bring together musicians of all kinds from the community and from elsewhere in Sussex to perform together for this event“.
Wadhurst Culture Chair, Felicity Harvest:
“As a tiny organisation, we’ve been really ambitious in mounting such a large project. The fact that it’s hit a chord in the village is because of all the work which has happened over the past year, with the artists working with local people to get a real sense of what this centenary means to them. The majority of the most visible commemorative events around World War One have been in our big cities, but it is in small communities like Wadhurst that the greatest impact was felt. Even today, when the population of the village is much larger than it was then, the loss of 25 young men in a single morning would be a tragedy which would impact on our lives for generations. It is though involvement in the arts that the horror, the awe, and the respect for those who suffered, in Aubers and at home, can be best expressed.”
With funding provided by an Arts Council grant, East Sussex Arts Partnership, District and Parish grants, combined with donations and sponsorship, In the Field promises to be a unique and unforgettable occasion.
Accompanying the musical elements of the project, the entire High Street will be turned into an art gallery as shops exhibit a selection of individual images taken over Remembrance Weekend 2014. A family trail will help to engage the whole community and it is hoped the events will attract visitors from a wide area.
Concert tickets go on sale this week at £12 adults and £8 for children from wadhurstculture.ticketsource.co.uk or by phoning 01892 783911. The sound installation will be free to enter– open from Sunday 3 May – Sunday 31 May. Daily 10-6 and 2-6 Sundays.
