The Choral Music Programme with Confederation Centre of the Arts presents Choral Music For A Holy Day, this year featuring the Karl Jenkins epic Mass for Peace : The Armed Man. The concert will be held at historic Trinity United Church, in Charlottetown on Good Friday, April 14, at 7 p.m. Maritime Electric Company is the generous sponsor for the Choral Music Programme.

The Confederation Singers under the direction of Donald Fraser will be joined by guest soloists Suzanne Campbell, Shannon Scales, Masoud Fahandezhsaadi; members of the Atlantic String Machine; a percussion ensemble lead by Dave Shephard; and Sarah Chace, flute, Laura MacLeod, trumpet, and Frances McBurnie, organ.

A Mass for Peace : The Armed Man was commissioned by the Royal Armouries to mark the transition from one millennium to another. It reflects on the passing of “the most war-torn and destructive century in human history” and looks forward in hope to a more peaceful future. The Armed Man is dedicated to the victims of the Kosovo conflict, whose tragedy was unfolding as the piece was being composed. It was first performed in 2000 by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, conducted by the composer himself.

The text incorporates words from various religious and historical sources, including the Islamic call to prayer, the Bible, and the Mahabharata. Writers whose words appear in the work include Rudyard Kipling, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and Sankichi Toge, who survived the Hiroshima bombing but died some years later of leukemia.

Admission is $20 and tickets are available at the Centre Box Office, (902) 566-1267, online at confederationcentre.com or at the door of Trinity United on the day of the concert. Choral Music for a Holy Day is presented by Sobeys LIVE @ the Centre.

The concert will be held at historic Trinity United Church on Good Friday April 14 at 7 PM.