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D-Day 80: A Concert Commemorating the Normandy Landings

Vernon Kay with the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Concert Orchestra and ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Big Band and special guests performing some of the best loved and most enduring music of that era at Portsmouth's Guildhall.

As dawn broke on the morning of the 6th of June 1944, hundreds of Allied Warships made their way towards the coast of Northern France. D-Day had finally arrived. Operation Overlord, the largest amphibious invasion in the history of warfare, was underway, heralding one of the most decisive campaigns of World War 2. More than 150,000 troops would land on 5 beaches in Normandy.

To commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, Radio 2 marks this occasion with a special concert from Portsmouth's Guildhall. Presented by Vernon Kay and featuring the combined musical forces of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Concert Orchestra and the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Big Band performing some of the best-loved and most enduring music of that era.

Featuring classic film scores including The Longest Day, Attack on the Iron Coast, A Bridge Too Far and Band of Brothers. Musicians also played an important role during those times, most notably Glenn Miller’s United States Army Air Force Band. They arrived in England in 1944, and over the next year, would make more than 500 broadcasts and 300 live performances attended by more than one million military personnel. Among their classics to be performed are In The Mood, Tail End Charlie and Moonlight Serenade.

The concert also features guests, including the acclaimed soul voices of Vanessa Haynes and Tony Momrelle, who perform some of the biggest hits of 1944, including Duke Ellington’s Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me, Louis Jordan’s Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby and Nat ‘King’ Cole’s Straighten Up And Fly Right. 9-piece vocal ensemble The D-Day Darlings revisit those Vera Lynn favourites, We’ll Meet Again and The White Cliffs of Dover, and singer / pianist Kate Garner takes a nostalgic look back at Now Is The Hour and I’m Gonna Get Lit Up When The Lights Go Up In London.

During the interval Jacob Millin tells the story of his grandfather Bill Millin, the D-Day piper of Sword Beach.

1 hour, 57 minutes

Music Played

  • ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Concert Orchestra

    The Longest Day: March

  • The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Big Band

    In The Mood

  • The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Big Band

    Tail End Charlie

  • The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Big Band

    Convoy

  • The D-Day Darlings

    Don't Sit Under The Apple Tree

  • The D-Day Darlings

    The White Cliffs of Dover

  • Vanessa Haynes

    Straighten Up and Fly Right

  • Vanessa Haynes

    Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me

  • Vanessa Haynes

    Evil Gal Blues

  • ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Concert Orchestra

    A Bridge Too Far

  • Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

    Mist Covered Mountains

    • The Best of Scotland.
    • Bandboy.
    • BB 4.
  • Jacob Millin

    Highland Laddie

  • The Cape Town Highlanders

    Road to the Isles

    • Scotland The Brave.
    • Scotdisc.
    • CDITV740.
  • The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards

    Flowers of the Forest

    • The Great Big Scottish Songbook.
    • EMI.
    • VTDCDX 909.
  • Seattle Symphony

    Schindler's List

    • Hollywood '94.
    • Varese Sarabande.
    • VSD-5531.
  • Gordon Highlanders Drums and Pipes

    A Scottish Soldier

    • Scotland The Brave.
    • OPP.
    • OPP 3020.
  • ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Concert Orchestra

    Attack On The Iron Coast

  • Tony Momrelle

    Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby

  • Tony Momrelle

    Till Then

  • The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Big Band

    Moonlight Serenade

  • The D-Day Darlings

    Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy

  • The D-Day Darlings

    The Longest Day

  • ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Concert Orchestra

    Band of Brothers - Main Title

  • Kate Garner

    The D-Day Dodgers

  • Kate Garner

    Medley: Now Is The Hour, When They Sound The Last All Clear, I'm Gonna Get Lit Up

  • The D-Day Darlings

    We'll Meet Again

  • ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Concert Orchestra

    Evening Hymn and Sunset

Broadcast

  • Sun 9 Jun 2024 20:00

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