Global concert for peace to mark 100 years since end of First World War

Musician and composer Thoren Ferguson with the Wilfred Owen violin during the launch of 'Armistice' (Jane Barlow/PA Wire)

MUSICIANS across the globe are planning to join together in concert to mark 100 years since the First World War armistice.

The crowdsourced concert at 4pm on November 11 will see volunteer musicians play a specially commissioned piece, Armistice, in an international project to promote peace.

Live recordings will be shared on social media using the hashtags #iPlay4Peace #ArmisticeConcert and #Concert4Cooperation.

(left to right) Leighton Griffen from Newtongrange Silver Band, Steve Burnett, maker of the Wilfred Owen and the War Poets violins, Lord Provost’s piper Lou Marshall, Neil McLennan, University of Aberdeen Senior Lecturer and Thoren Ferguson, fiddler and compose (Jane Barlow/PA Wire)

The music was scored on a violin made from a branch of a sycamore tree in the grounds of Craiglockhart, Edinburgh – the former First World War shell shock hospital where war poet Wilfred Owen convalesced.

Known as the Wilfred Owen violin, it was created in tribute to the poet and his lost generation.

The music is available for full orchestras or novice musicians to join the concert led by Scottish fiddler Thoren Ferguson, who will play the violin from Craiglockhart, now the home of Edinburgh Napier University.

Musician Leighton Griffin, from Newtongrange Silver Band, plays the euphonium (Jane Barlow/PA Wire)

Mr Ferguson said: “Having been involved in WW1 commemorative events for the last four years, playing and inspired by the Wilfred Owen violin, we wanted to start a movement that would leave a lasting legacy for the lost generation of WW1, and all wars and conflicts that have followed and still take place today.

“We believe in the power of music to cross divides and bring people together. From professional orchestras to solo musicians to school ensembles, we will all play Armistice at 4pm CET for remembrance, peace and reconciliation.

Event organiser Neil McLennan of the University of Aberdeen added: “Scotland will anchor the concert via social media but it will very much be a crowdsourced global orchestra with players from Shetland to South Africa, Ypres to America.”

More details about the event can be found at the Facebook group Armistice: Play4Peace: A Concert4Cooperation.