Forte – Toronto Gay Men’s Chorus commemorates the centenary of the armistice of World War I and the famous Christmas Truce of 1914, with a performance of All is Calm, All is Bright.

All is Calm recalls the remarkable World War I truce between Allied Forces and German soldiers in No Man’s Land. Soldiers laid down their arms to celebrate the holiday together, trading carols, sharing food and drink, playing soccer and burying each others’ dead. It’s been said that in some places the truce lasted only one night, in others until New Year’s Day.

The musical production was created by American theatre director Peter Rothstein, with musical arrangements by American choral director Erick Lichte and American composer Timothy C. Takach. The script uses a combination of excerpts from soldiers’ letters home, war journals, transcriptions from gravestones and World War I poetry, citing all of these different men after each piece of recited text. Musically, it includes arrangements of Christmas carols and war-songs for a capella voices; from patriotic tunes, trench songs, medieval Scottish ballads and holiday carols from England, Wales, France and Germany.

Who: Forte – Toronto Gay Men’s Chorus

What: All is Calm, All is Bright

When: Saturday, December 8, 2018

7:30 p.m.

Where: Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church and Centre for Faith, Justice and the Arts

427 Bloor Street West

Admission:

$25 in advance

$30 at the door

Advance tickets can be purchased online at www.fortechorus.com.