A composer born and raised in Penclawdd has made history by topping the world’s largest annual classical music survey — becoming the first living composer ever to reach number one in the Classic FM Hall of Fame.
Sir Karl Jenkins’ choral work The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace was voted Britain’s favourite piece of classical music in the Classic FM Hall of Fame 2026, displacing Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2, which had held the top spot in 2025. Nearly 90,000 public votes were cast in this year’s chart, with the result revealed live by presenter Dan Walker on Monday evening.
Sir Karl, who is 82 and grew up in Penclawdd on the Gower Peninsula, said the news had left him “gone all goose-pimply.” Speaking on BBC Radio Wales, he reflected on what the achievement meant to him. “It feels good to be alive and get the prize, rather than to be dead and pick it up,” he said. “It is strange that that is the case.”
In a statement, Sir Karl said he was “deeply honoured” by the result. “To become the first living composer to reach the number one position is profoundly humbling and gratifying, and to some degree, I am taken aback, when I reflect on the great masters, past and present, that sit below me on this list. As the cliché says, we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before.”
The Armed Man was originally commissioned in 1998 and premiered at the Royal Albert Hall in April 2000, performed by the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain. It is dedicated to the victims of the Kosovo War and has since been performed more than 4,000 times globally. Sir Karl reflected on the enduring relevance of the work’s message.
(Image: Classic FM)
“While it is with regret that I acknowledge that there has been no let-up in war and conflict since I dedicated the piece to the victims of Kosovo, we continue to make music in remembrance of those who have fallen and in the hope that humanity can find a way to heal,” he said.
The Armed Man is also the first choral work to claim the top spot in the chart’s 31-year history. For most of those years, Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending and Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2 have dominated the top position, sharing the number one spot across 23 years between them.
Sir Karl said he was mindful of the company he was in. “The poll is a popularity poll and I’m not even contemplating the fact that there are all these geniuses behind me in the list, from Mozart to Beethoven and John Williams even. In that sense, it is gratifying.”
Over the years the composer has been told by many people how The Armed Man has carried them through difficult times. “I get a lot of messages from people who are ill and who are dying, people with some trauma in their life, who have told me about the support the music has given them,” he said. “It’s still as relevant today, the message, as it was 25 years ago.”
Sir Karl had four other pieces in this year’s Top 300, with Adiemus at 66, Palladio at 82, Gloria at 191 and Requiem at 300. This year’s Hall of Fame also featured a record 40 film scores, with Howard Shore’s Lord of the Rings soundtrack reaching number eight — the highest-ranked film score in the chart’s history. John Williams retained his title as the most popular living composer with seven pieces in the Top 300.
Dan Walker, who presented the result live on Classic FM, paid tribute to Sir Karl and reflected on the wider trends in this year’s chart. He described The Armed Man as “one of those pieces which grabs your soul and won’t let go,” and said this year’s results showed “just how much that world continues to grow and change.” He added that the record number of film scores in the chart was helping “open the door for new audiences and helping even more people fall in love with classical music.”
The Classic FM Hall of Fame 2026 full chart is available online.
The Top 10 in full:
- The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace — Sir Karl Jenkins
- Piano Concerto No.2 — Rachmaninov
- The Lark Ascending — Vaughan Williams
- Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis — Vaughan Williams
- Enigma Variations — Elgar
- Miserere — Allegri
- Piano Concerto No.5 ‘Emperor’ — Beethoven
- The Lord of the Rings — Howard Shore
- Piano Concerto No.2 — Shostakovich
- Symphony No.9 ‘Choral’ — Beethoven
