Poets
War ends, but its echoes remain. In Poets, a powerful new oratorio, past and present intertwine as an aging Siegfried Sassoon relives the days of his deepest friendship and love—moments suspended in time, framed by the horrors of World War I. With a libretto drawn from the harrowing and poetic words of Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, this deeply moving work brings history to life in the most personal of ways: through the voices of those who lived it.
Scored for two baritones, soprano, and orchestra, Poets unfolds as a vivid recollection, where memory and reality collide. Siegfried, looking back with the weight of survival, sees Wilfred Owen not just as a fellow poet and soldier, but as a kindred spirit—lost to war, yet never truly gone. Their voices merge in soaring melodies and searing dissonance, their story told through Neo-Romantic music that shimmers with raw emotion, occasionally breaking into the piercing atonality of war’s chaos.
At the heart of the oratorio stands the Maiden, sung by soprano Mira Alkhovik. Through her, the lament of all women affected by war—mothers, sisters, lovers—is given voice. She sings ancient prayers in Latin: Stabat Mater, Salve Regina, her soaring lines carrying the sorrow of generations. She is both real and eternal, embodying grief, resilience, and the quiet strength of those left behind.
The final word belongs to Dulce et Decorum Est and Ave Maria, a juxtaposition of bitter truth and sacred plea. The conclusion of this 90-minute masterpiece is neither triumph nor resolution, but a profound reckoning—a reminder of the human cost of war, and the love and loss that endure beyond the battlefield. Premiering in Vienna in June 2025, Poets promises to be a defining moment in contemporary oratorio. A work of remembrance, protest, and deep human connection, it speaks not only of the past but to the present, urging us to listen—to the poetry, the music, and the voices of those who can no longer speak.
Scored for two baritones, soprano, and orchestra, Poets unfolds as a vivid recollection, where memory and reality collide. Siegfried, looking back with the weight of survival, sees Wilfred Owen not just as a fellow poet and soldier, but as a kindred spirit—lost to war, yet never truly gone. Their voices merge in soaring melodies and searing dissonance, their story told through Neo-Romantic music that shimmers with raw emotion, occasionally breaking into the piercing atonality of war’s chaos.
At the heart of the oratorio stands the Maiden, sung by soprano Mira Alkhovik. Through her, the lament of all women affected by war—mothers, sisters, lovers—is given voice. She sings ancient prayers in Latin: Stabat Mater, Salve Regina, her soaring lines carrying the sorrow of generations. She is both real and eternal, embodying grief, resilience, and the quiet strength of those left behind.
The final word belongs to Dulce et Decorum Est and Ave Maria, a juxtaposition of bitter truth and sacred plea. The conclusion of this 90-minute masterpiece is neither triumph nor resolution, but a profound reckoning—a reminder of the human cost of war, and the love and loss that endure beyond the battlefield. Premiering in Vienna in June 2025, Poets promises to be a defining moment in contemporary oratorio. A work of remembrance, protest, and deep human connection, it speaks not only of the past but to the present, urging us to listen—to the poetry, the music, and the voices of those who can no longer speak.