A JOINT world premiere of a piece of music commemorating the Christmas truce will take place simultaneously in Hereford and a city in Germany.

The Christmas Truce by composer Robert Steadman is a new work for tenor soloist, choir, strings, flute and piano.

The piece tells the story of the various Christmas truces that took place up and down the front between the British and German troops on Christmas Eve 1914. It was on December the 24th 1914, the first Christmas Eve of The Great War, that troops from both the English and German trenches put down their weapons and met in No Man’s Land to greet each other, wish each other a Merry Christmas, play football and sing Christmas carols together.

Texts for the piece are drawn from a number of sources but, primarily, from letters from soldiers at the front to their families and from newspaper accounts of what took place. The piece also incorporates Silent Night which, it is said, was sung by the troops from both sides in English and German following the football.

The Christmas Truce will be performed at a concert on Saturday, January 24 at 7pm at Holy Trinity Church, Whitecross, with choirs from around the county.

As there is a long-established diocesan link between churches in Hereford and Nuremberg, the piece will be performed simultaneously in the Neuestaedterkirche in Erlangen near Nuremberg, Germany by the Akademischerchor of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, under the direction of Konrad Klek.

In the second half of the Hereford concert, a number of individuals and groups will be invited to perform smaller items, and the concert will finish with a final 'massed performance' of the National Anthem, in a new arrangement by Jon Weller.

Jon is a freelance musician, living and working in Hereford and he said he is delighted to have managed this project in the UK and to have liaised with Konrad Klek and others in Nuremberg to create what should be an amazing event.

Musicians involved in the concert are from Holy Trinity Church Choir, Cantate Domino, the choir from St Thomas Cantilupe CE Primary and Hereford Chamber Choir, as well as other musicians, Nick Drew (tenor) and Charlotte Kidd (piano).

There is the opportunity for singers of all ages to join the choir in this premiere with a rehearsal on the day at 2pm for anyone wishing to take part.

Alternatively, tickets are available for £5 each from the Outback on Church Street, Hereford or by using the Contact Us page on the website: www.christmastrucehereford.co.uk