Published: November 4, 2024 — Radio and BBC Sounds

BBC Radio 2

Royal British Legion’s Festival of Remembrance 2024

Saturday 9 November, 8pm-9pm

Paddy O’Connell presents highlights from the Royal British Legion’s Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall. Paddy O’Connell presents highlights from the Royal British Legion’s Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall with spectacular music from star acts and massed military bands.  This year’s event will celebrate the remarkable men and women who fought in World War II in 1944.  To mark this 80th anniversary, we will commemorate those who fought on D-Day and at Monte Cassino and Kohima.  We will also reflect on recent conflicts – this year marks ten years since UK forces ended combat operations in Afghanistan.  And, we will pay tribute to the children of those that serve in the armed forces, including a special performance from the Service Children’s Community Choir. 

Guests from music, television and military worlds tell Paddy of the special honour it is to be involved in this annual event.  Past and present military personnel will come together to be honoured for their service and dedication in defending our freedoms and way of life.  As the petals fall in the Royal Albert Hall, the festival will pay tribute to all victims of war and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice and those who continue to risk their lives today.

Music artists include Welsh legend Sir Tom Jones, Jack Savoretti, Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, Samantha Barks, Alexandra Burke and Jake Isaac. The Central Band of the Royal Air Force and the Bands of HM Royal Marines will create awe-inspiring displays of military music.

BBC Radio 3

Choral Evensong: Clare College, Cambridge

Wednesday 6 November, 3pm-4pm

Choral Evensong is live from Clare College, Cambridge on Wednesday 6 November (and repeated on Sunday 10 November at 15:00) including music to mark Remembrance Day.

Repertoire includes:
Introit: Justorum animae (Stanford)
Responses: Lucy Walker
Psalms 32, 33, 34 (Jones, Randall, Pratt)
First Lesson: Proverbs 3 vv27-35
Canticles: Clare Service (Graham Ross) (world premiere)
Second Lesson: Matthew 18 vv21-35
Anthem: How are the mighty fallen (Ramsey)
Hymn: O God, our help in ages past (St Anne)
Voluntary: Elegy (Ireland)
Graham Ross is the Director of Music, with organists Daniel Blaze (Sir William McKie Senior Organ Scholar) and Evie Perfect (Junior Organ Scholar)

Compline: Remembrance Sunday

Sunday 10 November, 9.30pm-10pm

Part of a series of reflective services of night prayer, with words and music for the end of the day in the run up to Christmas, Compline on Sunday 10 November marks Remembrance Sunday from the Church of St Bartholomew the Great, London. Today’s episode includes works by Marchant, Nathan James Dearden, Wood, Eleanor Daley and Lobo, with conductor Rupert Gough.

Introit: The souls of the righteous (Marchant)
Preces (Plainsong)
Hymn: Te lucis ante terminum (Nathan James Dearden)
Psalm 121 (Walford Davies)
Reading: John 15 vv11-13
Responsory: Into thy hands, O Lord (Plainsong)
Canticle: Nunc dimittis (Wood)
Anthem: Set me as a seal (Eleanor Daley)
Antiphon: Ave regina caelorum (Lobo)
BBC Radio 4

Soul Music: Benedictus

Saturday 9 November, 10.30am – 11am

Sir Karl Jenkins’ Benedictus is the penultimate movement from his anti-war mass, The Armed Man. Written twenty-five years ago this year and performed over three thousand times, Sir Karl dedicated it to the victims of the 1998-1999 Kosovo war. It was originally commissioned by The Royal Armouries Museum and premiered for the millennium.

The Armed Man as a whole reflects the descent into war, but the movement of Benedictus’ emerges as a message of hope and peace in the aftermath. Benedictus is recognised for its haunting cello theme, in a register unusually high for this resonant instrument. The cello solo gradually expands into a full choir and orchestra.

Benedictus has given solace to listeners through some of the most difficult moments of their lives. We hear some of their stories. Featuring: British Armed Forces Veteran Michael Wright, who served in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan; Reverand Charles Thody, Priest in Lincolnshire and chaplain for the NHS; Dane Coetzee, cellist in Cape Town, South Africa; And the composer of Benedictus himself, Sir Karl Jenkins and his wife, Lady Carol Jenkins.

Sunday Worship: Devotion and Duty

Sunday 10 November, 8.10am – 8.45am

In this Sunday Worship service on Remembrance Day the two Archbishops of Armagh, the Church of Ireland’s Most Rev John McDowell and the Most Rev Eamon Martin of the Roman Catholic Church reflect on the lives and service of two military chaplains during the Second World War. Led by the Rev Dr Lesley Carroll.

Ceremony of Remembrance from the Cenotaph

Sunday 10 November, 10.30am -11.45am

BBC Radio 4 broadcasts the ceremony of Remembrance from the Cenotaph in London.  Paddy O’Connell leads live coverage from Whitehall of the solemn ceremony when the nation remembers the sacrifices made in the two world wars and in more recent conflicts. BBC World Service will simulcast the ceremony until 11.30am.

Local BBC Radio will be marking the silence across all stations in England on Remembrance Day.