Wednesday 30 April 2014

Remembrance Concert is highlight of VA's year



Veterans Aid has come a long  way since Mrs Gwen Huggins decided to 'do something' for homeless ex Servicemen in the 1930s. The charity's fortunes and profile have fluctuated significantly over the decades but never, in its 82-years of operation, has it featured centre-stage at London's Royal Albert Hall - on what is the undisputed  red letter date in the veterans calendar.


This year has particular resonance because 2014 marks the passing of 100 years since the start of the First World War. Veterans Aid was born in the aftermath of that war, when poverty and unemployment left many ex-servicemen homeless and sleeping on London’s Embankment. It has worked quietly and effectively ever since to help ex-servicemen and women or all ages through every kind of crisis. 

On Sunday, 9th November a WW1 Centenary performance of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem will be performed by The Royal Choral Society,  at The Royal Albert Hall. 

Proceeds of the  event will go exclusively to Veterans Aid.




Last year we provided more than 21,300 nights of accommodation, dealt with 3,400 calls for help, put an average of four people a month through detox programmes - and so much more! ( For details see the latest Annual Review.)

We've been supported by a wonderful patron, had our hostel 'transformed' by the generosity of a team of top designers - but most of all we've been given the funding  to provide continuing support to those who need us. 

Our CEO described the Remembrance Sunday event as the high point of VA’s year: 

“We were stunned when The Royal Choral Society approached us with their proposal and I am still humbled by the efforts of all involved in making this happen – The Lady R Foundation, The Royal Albert Hall and all the individuals unable to attend who have ‘donated’ their seats. This event marks not only a milestone in world history but acts also as a poignant reminder to all associated with our charity of how faithful to its core values it has been over the decades.”

There are still seven months in which to sell tickets, raise the event's profile and prepare for what will hopefully be one of the proudest moments in VA's history. We would love to see you there, to share what will be an unforgettable and deeply moving commemorative event.


TICKETS
Tickets start at £16.79 (including all booking fees) and are available from:

Royal Albert Hall Box office: 0845 401 5045

www.royalalberthall.com







NEWS RELEASE

A landmark event amongst the 2014 First World War centenary commemorations is the Royal Choral Society’s performance of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem on Remembrance Sunday, 9 November, at London’s Royal Albert Hall

Bringing together top-flight soloists, including star bass-baritone Bryn Terfel, and the internationally-renowned London Philharmonic Orchestra, the concert will undoubtedly be poignant and powerful. While remembering those who sacrificed their lives one hundred years ago, funds raised from the concert will go to Veterans Aid, a remarkable charity providing today’s ex-servicemen and women in crisis with immediate support and with extraordinary effectiveness. The concert, organised in collaboration with The Lady R Foundation, matches music, occasion and charitable cause, making it a unique event in this centenary year.

Britten’s War Requiem, one of the most masterful artistic responses to the tragedy of war, profoundly weaves together the Latin Mass for the Dead with the poetry of Wilfred Owen, the young English war poet killed in action in the final days of the First World War. It is a work steeped with themes of the pity of war, sacrifice and remembrance, yet also an expression of hope and reconciliation. Britten, a pacifist, intended that the vocal soloists for the premiere of the work should represent the former warring countries – Russia, Germany and Great Britain. The performance on Remembrance Sunday 2014, conducted by Richard Cooke, once again brings together these three nations, represented by international soloists: British bass-baritone Bryn Terfel, German tenor Stephan Rügamer and Russian soprano (and 2009 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World) Ekaterina Scherbachenko. 

Bryn Terfel said:  “I’m delighted to be singing in Britten’s War Requiem to mark such a unique occasion. To sing this piece on the Remembrance Sunday of the Centenary year of the outbreak of the First World War will be an historic commemoration. The First World War affected every family in the country and heralded a century of bloodshed and destruction like no other. The Royal Albert Hall is the concert venue for marking Remembrance Sunday and I’m sure that the Royal Choral Society, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and my fellow soloists will give their all to ensure that the centenary is properly marked.”

The Royal Choral Society is one of the UK’s premier choirs and has a long history with the Royal Albert Hall. Formed in 1871 for the Hall’s opening, the choir has performed continually at its ‘spiritual home’, even throughout the First World War, when the choir was a pivotal force in preserving music-making in London, introducing a Sunday afternoon concert series at the Royal Albert Hall in 1915.

The event is presented in association with The Lady R Foundation, a UK registered charity founded by The Dowager Viscountess Rothermere, to bring comfort and relief to the forgotten, the overlooked and the stigmatised in today’s society. 

BACKGROUND



About the Royal Choral Society

The Royal Choral Society was formed for the opening of the Royal Albert Hall in 1871. The choir’s history reads like a 'Who’s Who' of the musical world. Former RCS conductors include Charles Gounod and Malcolm Sargent – the latter, described as ‘the finest British choral conductor of his generation’, had a 40-year association with the choir. Current Musical Director Richard Cooke took over the baton from his distinguished predecessors in 1995.

The RCS has always had a wide repertoire; their performance of new works has been a feature, with Verdi and Dvorák conducting the choir in premières of their own works. Today, the RCS enjoys maintaining a balance between performances of traditional repertoire and the opportunities to perform in unusual and contrasting events including leading the singing in Hyde Park at the annual BBC Proms in the Park concert. Other unique events include singing at the launch of the Queen Mary 2, participating in the 25th anniversary for the Falklands conflict, the 70th anniversary of the Dunkirk evacuation and performing at the Royal Festival Hall re-opening in 2007. The choir recently recorded the Sky Sports ‘idents’ vocals, and provided vocals for the specially-composed soundtrack to Channel 5’s fly-on the-wall documentary Royal Marines: Mission Afghanistan.
http://www.royalchoralsociety.co.uk/



About Veterans Aid

Veterans Aid is the major charity for UK veterans in crisis. It was born in 1932, in the aftermath of the First World War, when the legacy of that conflict left many former servicemen unemployed, homeless and destitute. The compassion and immediate practical aid it offered then has been its hallmark ever since. Last year it received around 3,000 calls for help, provided more than 20,000 nights of accommodation and put an average of four people a month through successful detox.

CEO Dr Hugh Milroy said, “The nature of our work has not changed; we are the Accident and Emergency unit of the Veterans world and those who come to us are in crisis. But although the problems have not changed, the solutions have. This charity has gone far beyond the concept of handouts and welfare to create an operational model based on the addressing of individual needs. The variety of support we offer is limited only by imagination and resources and, thanks to the help of our supporters and wonderful patron Lady Rothermere, we are able to do more and more. Every day we transform lives by providing people with the tools to rebuild old lives and sustain new ones.

This concert resonates poignantly with who we are and what we have been doing for veterans of all ages for 82 years. It is heart-warming to be the beneficiary of such generosity.”
http://www.veterans-aid.net/



About The Lady R Foundation

The Lady R Foundation was founded in 2009 by The Dowager Viscountess Rothermere to give a voice to those who have no voice, through lack of education, opportunity, illness or having been ostracised in their community.

Since its inception, the Foundation has managed a number of high profile events for the causes it supports. In May 2010, The Lady R Foundation took the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy, to Sorokdo Island, Korea, where they performed for the Hansen’s patients and staff at the National Sorokdo Hospital. The event was attended by a number of Korean and foreign dignitaries, including the then Prime Minister of The Republic of Korea, HE Dr Chung Un-Chan and it received substantial media attention. In January 2013, a concert and dinner was held in London by The Lady R Foundation at St John’s Smith Square to raise awareness of, and support for, Veterans Aid and in spring 2013 Lady Rothermere became the patron of Veterans Aid.

As well as organising various fundraising events, the Foundation has been responsible for gaining planning permission for a memorial to the Korean War to be built in central London and on 5th November 2013, South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye was joined by HRH The Duke of Cambridge at a ceremony to break ground for the memorial as part of her State Visit. Often called the ‘Forgotten War’ the memorial was long overdue and greatly desired by the Korean veterans, to serve as a permanent reminder of the sacrifices made by British troops during the war and, importantly, as a place for Korean veterans and future generations to go to remember.
http://www.theladyrfoundation.org



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