War Requiem to Commemorate WWI Centennial

The College of Arts + Architecture will join Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I with performances of Benjamin Britten’s powerful War Requiem on April 13 and 14.

Britten’s War Requiem was commissioned for the 1962 consecration of the Coventry Cathedral in England, which had been destroyed in World War II. Instead of being rebuilt, the Medieval cathedral was left in ruins as a garden of remembrance and a new, modernist cathedral was built alongside it, becoming an architectural symbol of resurrection and reconciliation.

War Requiem also blends ancient and modern. The text interweaves movements of the Catholic Requiem Mass with wartime poetry by Wilfred Owen, a young British soldier who was killed on the Western Front just before the Armistice that ended World War I.

In a monumental production, faculty and students from the UNC Charlotte Department of Music will join forces with more than 100 other professional, community, and student musicians to present this moving tribute to world peace.

These performances are part of Sensoria: A Celebration of Literature & the Arts and take place at 7:30 pm in the Halton Theater at CPCC. Tickets are $20 for general public, $18 for seniors, $8 for students, and free for veterans and active military. For more information and to purchase tickets, please click here.