According to composer Larry Nickel, the desire for peace is one of the messages of his work “Requiem for peace—an international call for peace and reconciliation.”
“What the world needs is peace,” Nickel said. “I like to write music that is meaningful and has something to say but of course, everybody wants peace.”
The performance of “Requiem for Peace” is the Carleton University Choir’s second big performance of the year, according to Laurie Hamilton, the director of the choir.
The choir is made up of about 60 people including students, faculty and community members. The performance of “Requiem for Peace” is one of the more difficult pieces the choir has performed so far for varying reasons, including the languages, the emotions and the length.
The piece contains 16 movements, is written in 13 languages, and combines poetry from around the world to create a unified message of forgiveness.
Nickel drew from poetry from around the world, including works from Egypt, Iran, China, Iraq, and Israel.
The music is performed for 75 minutes straight without an intermission, which Hamilton said makes it more challenging for the singers.
Choir member Cristella Pari said she agrees.
“Usually we do lots of different pieces and this time we’re doing one whole big piece. It makes it a little bit harder to learn and for the concert too it’s harder because you need to have more stamina to sing for longer,” she said.
As challenging as it is, it is also “a real chance for the students and the people of the choir to experience different cultures and different people,” Hamilton added.
Jordan King, another choir member, said that for him, this is an opportunity to be part of such a big, challenging, and meaningful piece.
“I think a lot of us are experiencing that same sort of thing. It is bringing the community closer together and we’re getting experts coming to help us to make sure that we are getting the right message across,” he said.
According to Hamilton, the piece touches on a variety of emotions.
“The music is compelling, and it ranges between emotions—sometimes hopeful and bright and at other times very angry but it draws you in,” Hamilton said.
“When I first started rehearsing this I thought ‘Oh, this is going to be hard and kind of depressing all the time,’ but it’s not. Some of it is very hopeful and visiting all of these countries through music is very amazing,” she added.
Nickel added forgiveness was also something he wanted to stress in the piece.
“One of the main messages of the music is about forgiveness,” Nickel said. “At some point people have to forgive each other and that is one of the main messages in “Requiem for Peace.” You have to be able to look to somebody who did wrong to you and say, ‘I forgive you’ otherwise you can’t move on with your life.”
The choir has professional singers and soloists joining them to perform this piece at the Dominion-Chalmers United Church on April 7. They also have people from both within and outside the choir helping them with the foreign languages featured in the piece such as German, Russian, Mandarin, Swedish and Dutch.
Ultimately, Nickel said he sees musical performance as a way for people to come together.
“Singing in a choir is one of the peaceful acts you can do and if you look at the Olympics when people get together and have fun together, whether it’s sports or music, these are the things that are bringing the world together in a peaceful way,” Nickel said.
Photo by Aaron Hemens
