A Day May Come, a new 3-minute anthem for unaccompanied voices by Debbie Wiseman, debuted on record with VOCES8 on 2 May, ahead of the 80th anniversaries of VE Day and VJ Day in 2025. The work, with specially written words by contemporary Welsh poet Grahame Davies, was commissioned by Classic FM, where Wiseman is Composer in Residence – watch VOCES8 perform the chart-topping track here.
The haunting motet speaks of sacrifice, remembrance and hope, and the power of living life through the example of others. Set to music of beauty, tenderness, and emotion, Grahame Davies’s new words sum up perfectly, and respectfully, the concepts of sacrifice and duty, sentiments so very alive and present in the nation during that time. An ideal work for events and services of commemoration, purchase the music for A Day May Come here.
Wiseman described the piece as a “tribute to the sacrifice and bravery of those who gave their lives so that those who followed could live their lives in peace and freedom. I hope that this anthem will offer a moment of quiet reflection to sit alongside the celebration of our victory in Europe."
One of the UK’s most successful female music ambassadors, whose distinguished career encompasses the worlds of TV, film and concert music, Wiseman has composed numerous works marking significant public and historical occasions. In 2012, as part of the Diamond Jubilee River Pageant, Wiseman was asked to write new ‘Water Music’ and conducted an on-board orchestra travelling down the River Thames as part of a 1,000-strong flotilla. She composed the ‘Overture and Finale’ for the late Queen’s 90th Birthday Celebration in 2016 as well as the tender ‘Elizabeth Remembered’, following the death of the Queen in 2022. In May 2023 her two ‘Gospel Alleluias’ featured at the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.