The Trenches a Century On: A Groupmuse Night Out with NOW

It was almost 100 years ago today that the First World War ended. It was to shape our worlds in ways that no one could have predicted, and the world of art music was no exception. Forever gone were the days of the high-minded idealism of the Romantic. Already on its way out, the trenches were the final nail in that coffin -- and the post-war era saw music embody the world-weariness that mechanized murder had engendered in an entire generation.

The New Orchestra of Washington (NOW), perhaps the most dynamic and forward-thinking chamber orchestra in the whole region, seeks to commemorate this centenary with a program that sees works from that moment of global upheaval in dialogue with works from today, as we light a path into the future. They’ll be joined by the voices of the Washington Master Chorale for an evening of music on the grandest scale and they want us to join for a Night Out.

The program opens with an arrangement of Radiohead’s haunting and beautiful 2016 single Harry Patch, and follows with two wartime masterpieces: Maurice Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin, and Gustav Holst’s Ode to Death — a setting of a Walt Whitman passage, originally written to commemorate the death of Abraham Lincoln five decades prior.

The concert finishes with the world premier of Crimson Roses Once Again Be Fair - a work for choir and chamber orchestra based on texts by WWI poets by American Composer Joseph Turrin.

We’ll gather for the evening in glorious Church of the Epiphany, right in the heart of downtown DC. Tickets for such sound and splendor typically run $40, but we’ve got you a stack for just $20, fully half off, because NOW is wonderful and they believe in our community.

But our supplies are limited, so if you wish to be a part, act on it!

What's the music?

New Orchestra of Washington

Attendees

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Megan R.

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Linda R.

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Nan R.

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Ashlin O.

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Ingrid R.

Sakari D.

Richard W. Groupmuse Superhost

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Eugene U.

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Kelly F.

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Omar A.

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Fred B.

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Mike M.

Kate A.

LINDA RUTH W.

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Cody G.

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Thomas R.