Walla Walla Choral Society

The Walla Walla Choral Society’s final concert of the season, on June 2, 2024, will be Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living. This extraordinary five-movement composition, completed in 2013, is an extended setting of the Requiem, scored for boy soprano/tenor, soprano, choir, and orchestra. The Latin text that Forrest set combines sections from the Requiem with biblical texts from Ecclesiastes and the Book of Job. In most movements, long melodies often begin mysteriously and softly and develop towards a brilliant ending. Most notably the second movement deals with the transience of everything living, based on texts in Latin not usually part of the Requiem.

Traditionally, a requiem is a prayer for rest for the deceased. However, in Dan Forrest's innovative work, this prayer becomes a plea for rest for those who are struggling through pain in this life. The final movement, Lux Aeterna, portrays light, peace, and rest – for both the deceased and the living.

For this concert, the Choral Society welcomes student singers and musicians from College Place High School and Walla Walla High School to perform this beautiful composition in a special event for the Walla Walla Valley.