RMP - Staging Site

Requiem for the Living
2025-08-16 15:00 - 16:30 (Australia/Melbourne) | The Edge, Fed Square, The Edge, Fed Square, Swanston St &, Flinders St, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia

Requiem for the Living and the RMP Aria Final
2025-08-16 19:00 - 21:30
Hear some of the nation’s finest young singers battle it out in the final of Australia’s most prestigious oratorio soloists award, accompanied on piano, as well as a spectacular orchestral performance of Dan Forrest’s stunning “Requiem for the Living” – a beautiful and uplifting work, which has been hailed as “… a twenty-first century masterpiece”.
Requiem for the Living is a major choral symphonic composition in five movements by young American composer Dan Forrest, who is quickly emerging as one of that country’s most popular and important choral composers. Completed in 2013, it is a non-conventional and extended setting of the Requiem Mass, scored for boy soprano, soprano, choir and orchestra, and organ. The Latin text that Forrest set combines sections from the Requiem with biblical texts from Ecclesiastes and the Book of Job.
About Dan Forrest’s “REQUIEM FOR THE LIVING” “… a twenty-first century masterpiece”

A Requiem, at its core, is a prayer for rest-traditionally, for the deceased. The five movements of Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living, (2013), however, form a narrative just as much for the living, and their own struggle with pain and sorrow, as for those already departed. The opening movement sets the traditional Introit and Kyrie texts- pleas for rest and mercy- using ever-increasing elaborations on a simple three-note descending motive. The second movement, instead of the traditional Dies Irae found in the traditional Catholic Mass for the Dead, sets Scriptural texts that dramatically speak of the turmoil and sorrow which face humanity, while yet invoking musical and textual allusions to the Dies Irae. According to the composer, it bitterly portrays the problem of pain that we all wrestle with during our lives, and which causes a crisis of faith for many people. It expounds on the “vanity of vanities, all is vanity” refrain from Ecclesiastes, with no small amount of anger and bitterness and “rage against the machine”. This movement juxtaposes aggressive modern rhythmic gestures with long, floating melodic lines, including quotes of the Kyrie from the first movement. The Agnus Dei is performed next (a departure from the usual liturgical order) as a plea for deliverance and peace for all mankind, not just those departed; the Sanctus, following it, becomes a response to this redemption.The Sanctus offers three different glimpses of the “heavens and earth, full of Thy glory”, all of which develop the same musical motive: an ethereal opening section inspired by images of space from the Hubble Space Telescope, a stirring middle section inspired by images of our own planet as viewed from the International Space Station, and a closing section which brings the listener down to Earth, where cities teem with the energy of humanity.
The Lux Aeterna which closes the work, portrays light, peace, and rest – for both the deceased and the living in an uplifting and comforting way. Lux Aeterna (Eternal light), also includes text from the Gospel of Matthew, “Come unto me, all ye that labour” (Matthew 11:28–29) was set before by Handel in Messiah, and features a tenor solo.
In most of Forrest’s movements in this work, long melodies often begin mysteriously and softly, and develop towards a brilliant ending. A single singer would not be able to hold their breath for the duration of the long phrases, but by using staggered breathing, a choir can create the impression of endless melodies.
Requiem for the Living was commissioned by the Hickory Choral Society (Hickory, NC) in the USA, as part of their ongoing commitment to funding new major works for the choral repertoire. Several other performances quickly followed, including one with full orchestra in Carnegie Hall in New York in January 2014. Since that time, the work has been performed by many of the world’s leading choirs, across the United States, in Europe, throughout Asia and now in Australia.

Featuring :

Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Choir

Melbourne University Choral Society, Box Hill Chorale

Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Orchestra

Andrew Wailes conductor
