"Father, forgive them" by PhD student Ben Ponniah sung by the BBC Singers on BBC Radio 3 on Tuesday, 30 March 2021.
Ben Ponniah is a British composer of Sri Lankan and Indian heritage who started a distance learning PhD in music specialising in choral composition at the University of Aberdeen in September 2019 and is supervised by Dr Phillip Cooke. The broadcast of his work Father, forgive them stands alongside two more works for choir that have received performances on air.
The compoer states about this work: "This composition explores the process of forgiveness. Jesus was able to forgive those torturing him while on the cross. This piece starts off in relative darkness, but it brightens as forgiveness takes place. For most people, forgiveness is a continuous process that requires letting go of the past on a regular basis. This repetitive nature of forgiveness is explored in Father, Forgive Them. We all have someone to forgive. I hope you find the waves of choral density healing."