The Priests Perform The Armed Man: A Mass For Peace

Added: (Tue Dec 29 2009)

Pressbox (Press Release) - The Priests will perform Karl Jenkins’ popular work The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace at London’s Cadogan Hall in February 2010. They will be accompanied for the concert by the highly acclaimed London Oratory School Schola.

The Priests and Schola performed the Mass together to a sell-out audience at St Peter’s cathedral in Belfast earlier this year. The Schola has also performed on The Priests new album Harmony which was released in November 2009 and has already gone gold in several countries around the world. This is the follow-up to the huge success of their debut album which was the fastest selling classical album of all time.

Fr Eugene O’Hagan of The Priests said: “We are honoured to link up with this prestigious choir again in one of the London’s great venues for classical music”.

Lee Ward, Director of the Schola said: “Our collaboration with The Priests has been a great success. Performing The Armed Man with them was a very positive experience and was all the more moving because it was in Belfast. We felt we had to bring this to a London audience and we’re looking forward to the Cadogan concert.

The Priests will also perform some of their popular hits in the first half of the Cadogan Hall concert. Lee Ward, who chose the Jenkins work for the repertoire will conduct.

Ward said: “The Armed Man is a perfect work for this collaboration. It is at once a serious yet accessible piece of music. The choral power suits the Schola and there are great parts for The Priests. They have even included the Benedictus from it on their new album”.

The Cadogan Hall concert is in aid of the Schola Foundation, a charitable body established in 2007 to sustain and develop the work of the choir. The Schola is unique in offering Catholic boys the opportunity of a choral education within the state education system from age 7 to 18. It was recently described by Choir and Organ Magazine as “one of the best boys’ choirs in the world”.

The work of the Foundation has also enabled Schola to fulfil its ambition to commission original music. The celebrated English composer Roxanna Panufnik has written a new mass especially for them. Schola Missa de Angelis’ [Mass of the Angels] will be premiered in London in May 2010

The Priests In concert with the Schola on February 12th 2009 at The Cadogan Hall,5 Sloane Terrace, London, SW1X 9DQ

Tickets priced £45, £30, and £20 Available from the Cadogan Hall Box Office 0207730 4500 or online at: www.cadoganhall.com

Further details about the Schola may be found at www.london-oratory.org/schola

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Notes to Editors:

The Armed Man: A Mass For Peace
Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace was commissioned by the Royal Armouries to mark the millennium and was dedicated to the victims of the Kosovo conflict.. It is a powerful and compelling account of the descent into, and consequences of war. Using the basis of a Christian Mass (Requiem), Karl Jenkins has set both secular and sacred texts, inspired and guided by the 15th-century French song L'Homme Arme, to create a major and unsettling choral work that raises questions and provokes poignant reflection.

The Priests
The Priests are a classical musical group made up of three Roman Catholic priests from Northern Ireland, brothers Fr Eugene and Fr Martin O’Hagan and Fr David Delargy. They balance their musical career with their everyday commitments as priests in their diocese of Down and Connor.
The trio have been singing together since their schooldays at St MacNissi’s college, Garron Tower, County Antrim. After being spotted and signing a record deal with Sony in April 2008 the Priests recorded their debut album in Northern Ireland and Rome, with the unusual honour of having been allowed to record in St Peter’s Basilica, The Vatican. Their first album was the fastest selling classical album of all time. In November 2009 they released their second album Harmony.

The London Oratory School Schola
The London Oratory School Schola is one of the country's leading liturgical choirs and sings at the Brompton Oratory, London every Saturday evening in term time.
The Schola is also a highly sought after commercial choir, having appeared on soundtracks for The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Harry Potter and most recently The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Recordings this year have included Gary Barlow’s latest protégé, Camilla Kerslake; Britain’s Got Talent’s Andrew Johnston and Sigur Ros. It has released two CDs, Ave Maria and Spirit of the Saints.
Founded in 1996 by the then headmaster John McIntosh, the choir is unique in offering Catholic boys the opportunity of a choral education within the state education system from age 7 to 18. Such an opportunity is made possible by the close association of The London Oratory School and the Brompton Oratory. The Schola is now regarded as a centre of excellence in choral training.
The choir consists of 50 voices. The trebles in the choir are joined by 'Choral Scholars': older boys in the school who sing alto, tenor and bass, most of whom have been members of the choir prior to their voices breaking. Alongside the trebles and choral Scholars there are six 'lay clerks', professional singers from some of London's greatest musical foundations.
The Schola also runs a chorister outreach programme with local primary schools and regularly help raise funds for various charities through concerts and performances.

The Schola Foundation
The Schola Foundation was established in 2007 as a registered charity to actively support and promote the work of the Schola and raise funds to ensure its long term future. The work of the Foundation has also enabled the Schola to fulfil its ambition to commission original music. The celebrated English composer Roxanna Panufnik has written a new mass especially for them. Schola Missa de Angelis’ [Mass of the Angels] will be premiered in London in May 2010. Recent tours supported by the Foundation have included Ireland, Poland, Czech Republic, Italy, Germany and France. .

Lee Ward: Director of Schola
Born in Liverpool, Lee Ward was appointed Assistant Organist at Chester Cathedral at the early age of 18 and then won a Foundation Scholarship and the Royal College of Organists' R.J. Pitcher Scholarship to the Royal College of Music. While there, he won all of the available organ prizes and also organ scholarships at the Temple Church, St Paul's Cathedral and St Alban's Abbey, where we worked closely with John Scott, Barry Rose and John Birch. He has given organ recitals in many of England's cathedrals and concert halls.
Since 1996 Ward has been Director of Music at The London Oratory School where he runs the largest school music department in London. He has recently made President of the UK’s largest organisation for music teachers, the Music Masters' Association (MMA).
Lee Ward became Director of the Schola in March 2006. Under his direction the choir has met with wide critical acclaim in a varied repertoire from Monteverdi to Karl Jenkins. He has brought a new vitality to the choir and in addition to its continuing liturgical commitments, he has increased its public profile through concerts, recordings, commissioning of new music and touring.

The London Oratory School
The London Oratory School which was founded in 1863 is a Roman Catholic voluntary aided school in the trusteeship of the Fathers of The Oratory, London. There are 1360 pupils, 80 boys aged 7 to 10 in the Junior House receiving a specialist music education, 940 boys aged 11 to 16 in the first to fifth forms and 340 in the sixth form.