The Armed Man is a Mass by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins, subtitled "A Mass for Peace". The work was commissioned by the Royal Armouries Museum for the Millennium celebrations, and to mark the museum's move from London to Leeds, and was originally dedicated to victims of the Kosovo crisis. Like Benjamin Britten's War Requiem before it, it is essentially an anti-war piece and is based on the Catholic Mass, which Jenkins combines with other sources, principally the fifteenth century folk song L'homme armé in the first and last movements. The mass was written for SATB chorus with soloists. Guy Wilson, then master of the museum, selected the texts for the mass. This is a highly evocative work which will be performed in St Michael’s church in Lyndhurst, by kind permission of the Rector, for the first time. It is especially appropriate that it is to be performed in the year of the centenary of the outbreak of World War 1. The concert is being performed to raise funds for Help for Heroes, for St Michael And All Angels, Lyndhurst, church and All Saints’ church, Minstead. The choir is made up of members of various choirs, some coming from as far as London and the west country and all coming together on the day to raise money for a very worthwhile cause. John Sutton (Conductor) began his musical career as a double bass player with the National Youth Orchestra. At the Royal College of Music he studied singing with Mark Raphael, bass with Eugene Cruft and conducting with Sir Adrian Boult. He conducts two choral societies, an operatic society in the southwest London area, and Compton and Shawford Festival Choir in Winchester. This is going to be an amazing and moving event and I am sure that the villages of Lyndhurst and Minstead will want to support our hard work. To help us in our fundraising effort with sponsorship or with any other support contact :- Berry Stone 023 8081 3719 or 07964 872 459 or e:mail [email protected] .