Amherst Requiem is a work for soprano, mixed chorus, children’s chorus, and large orchestra. It combines nine poems of Emily Dickinson, sung by the soprano, with the Latin missa pro defunctis (mass for the dead), sung by the choruses.
The premier performances were in November, 2008 at Memorial Church, Stanford University. The performers were were Heidi Melton, soprano; the Stanford Symphonic Chorus (Stephen Sano, Director); Vivace Youth Chorus (Peggy Spool, Director); and the Peninsula Symphony Orchestra, under Mitchell Sardou Klein.
Here are the movements of Amherst Requiem. Click on a movement title to access the words and music of that movement. Each movement includes a link to the succeeding movement.
Two portions of Amherst Requiem have been published in different forms. They are Pie Jesu, for children’s chorus and solo horn (Santa Barbara Music Publishing) and I shall keep singing! for treble chorus and harp (or piano) (Thorpe Music Publishing). Here is a link to Pie Jesu and here is a link to I shall keep signing!
Amherst Requiem won the American Prize in Choral Composition in 2012. There have been no performances since the premier.
Here are three more Emily Dickinson settings, this time for children’s chorus: A narrow fellow in the grass, I’m Nobody!, and The cricket sang.