The City Choir of Washington opens its twelfth season on the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. Join us and special guest conductor Gretchen Kuhrmann as we commemorate this historic occasion with music by composers who were all very deeply affected by the Great War. Hubert Parry’s Jerusalem became an unofficial anthem during the war, and Parry himself would succumb to the Spanish flu in 1918. We will also present two pieces by Gerald Finzi—A Farewell to Arms and In terra pax—who lost three siblings in the war. The highlight of the concert is Vaughan Williams’ stirring cantata, Dona nobis pacem, written in the turbulent time between the first and second World Wars. Despite being quite old for military service, Vaughan Williams himself fought during World War I.

A military color guard will present and retire the national colors.

Please join us after the concert for remarks and a Q&A session with Maestra Kuhrmann and Andrew Woods, Research Historian at the First Division Museum at Cantigny Park.