Choir commemorates WWII tragedy with new work

The City of London-based Lloyd’s Choir is set to commemorate the sinking of HMT Lancastria with the premiere of a new choral work by Jacques Cohen. The new work will mark the 85^th anniversary of the World War II tragedy, which resulted in loss of life equal to the combined losses of the Lusitania and Titanic disasters.

Written by the choir’s music director, the new choral work will premiere at Lloyd’s Choir’s annual spring concert on 27 March at St Giles Cripplegate Church. Cohen’s Lancastria, which includes a setting of Alfred Tennyson’s Crossing the Bar, will thenreceive its second performance in a shortened, a cappella version at a memorial service for those lost in the HMT Lancastria disaster at St Katharine Cree church on 12 June.

Cohen said: ‘Ever since I have been involved with Lloyd's Choir and became aware of their involvement with the Lancastria, conducting the choir for the annual service at St Katharine Cree, I have felt compelled to help commemorate this in some way. Since I am a composer, writing a piece seemed the obvious thing. Originally, I was going to write an orchestral piece but realised it was important to involve the choir as well, and since the bagpipe melody has always been such an important and moving part of the ceremony, I knew that that too had to play a role. Then when I came across the Tennyson text everything came together.’

On 17 June 1940, HMT Lancastria was anchored three miles off St Nazaire on the French Atlantic Coast with the task of repatriating British servicemen and civilians who had been left in France after the evacuation of Dunkirk. Almost 9,000 people were on board the ship when it was hit four times by enemy bombs and sank, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 4,000 to 7,000 people.

Lloyd’s choir is made up of singers from the City financial community and beyond, particularly those working in the insurance market. For the Lancastria premiere it will join forces with the Cohen Ensemble (formerly known as the Isis Ensemble) for a programme featuring Rossini’s Stabat Mater and Mendelssohn’s Psalm 114.