An audience enjoyed a reflective evening of music when the Ely Consort’s concert, We Will Remember, was staged the night before Remembrance Sunday.

Composer Jonathan Rathbone and librettist and local writer Graeme Curry performed Christmas Truce with a choir that rose to the occasion.

This is only the second time that this piece has been performed in public.

Christmas Truce tells the story of the gap in fighting which occurred spontaneously on Christmas Eve 1914 in the trenches of the First World War.

The opening two movements, for choir and baritone soloist, set the scene, using poetry by Edward Thomas who was killed in action at Arras in 1917.

The piece then takes the form of a narrative, spoken over orchestral accompaniment by a soldier who was there performed by Jack Lawrence-Jones.

It tells how carols were sung by troops in the trenches on Christmas Eve 1914, a well documented fact.

The narrative concludes with a soldier finding a war memorial and looking through the list to find his brother’s name and as names are read out to the choir singing we learn that some were relatives of members of Ely Consort who were lost during the war.

The second half of the concert continued the reflective remembrance theme with a performance of Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem.

The famous Pie Jesu was sung by Lucy Green, a member of Ely Cathedral Girls Choir.

Present at the concert was the Mayor of Ely, Elisabeth Every.

The next event is Christmas in Cottenham with Ely Consort on Saturday December 13 at 7.30pm at All Saint’s.

It is an evening of music for advent & Christmas.

Tickets cost £8 in advance or £10 on the door. Under 16’s are free available from www.ticketsource.co.uk/elyconsort.