Clock: BYU -HAWAII Hula Dancer performs with choir in the Carnegie Hall

Fifty-four students from Brigham Young University-Hawaii recently awarded their voices of a historical performance in the respected Carnegie Hall in New York City. Under the staff of Dr. Erica Glenn joined the Ho'olōkahi chamber choir of the University of the University of Four Professional Opera Sing, the New England Symphonic Ensemble and choir singer from all over the world to maintain the world premiere of a new requiem.

“The students believe that this is their requiem; … it was created together,” says Dr. Glenn, which composed the 25-minute piece. “It is not only connected to the background of all of our students, but also with the actual mission of BYU -HAWAII that create future worldwide managers in the church and facilitate intercultural peace.

More than one service that Requiem worldwide Symbolized collective healing, resilience and hope according to the latest tragedies in Maui, the Philippines, Ukraine, Tonga, in Palestine and Japan. The performance contained first -hand reports from survivors of four of the six disasters.

The last movement of the performance focused on the devastating forest fires in Lahaina, Maui, in 2023. God symbolized the ability of God to give us beauty for ashes, and Moanahiwalani (Hiwa) Walker – a Hawaiian member of the choir – slandered Hula – while he is wearing every region. Before the performance, she carefully chose plants with symbolic importance to honor the survivors of the various tragedies.

“When I dance, I tell a story with my hands and my whole body,” says Hiwa, whose ancestors come from Lahaina. “As the only Hawaiian spokesman in my choir, I felt that my hula helped people in the audience and in the choir to know and see the emotions that are expressed in the words.”

Look at a clip of the performance below.

The journey to performance in Carnegie Hall was in production for years.

In 2023, the Byu -Hawaii concert choir Mozart's Requiem played with Peter Tiboris, who founded a concert series in Carnegie Hall. Dr. Glenn says he is so impressed by the choir program that he invited her to choose a piece of guest behavior in Manhattan in 2025.

When she looked at the opportunity, Dr. Glenn inspires to write a new requiem that represents the unique background and experiences of the choir members. “We have such a diverse choir,” she explains. “We represented over 60 countries, and in our choir we represented 21 flowing or mother tongues.”

A requiem usually contains Latin text, but Dr. Glenn decided on another approach. The Requiem worldwide Contains eight languages ​​- English, Latin, Hawaiian, Ukrainian, Tongan, Waray, Levantine -Arabisch and Japanese – and every movement is devoted to another region in the world who has experienced war or catastrophe.

Dr. Glenn consulted with students and parents to integrate eyewitness accounts and authentic translations into the text. For example, a choir member named Mitzi Chou 2013 told her experiences through the Super -Taifun Haiyan in Tacloban City, Philippines.

“When I share my eyewitness account and contribute to translating this part of the requiem into my home language in the Waray language, the prayer from the heart of our people felt a way to hear the world not only our grief, but also our strength,” says Mitzi. “It was a holy act of memory and love.”

Beyond the music itself, Dr. Glenn enables a number of miracles in Carnegie Hall.

After composing and rehearsing the request, there were several obstacles. First, many students did not have the available income to make a trip to New York City, and the department did not have the budget for such a tour.

But Dr. Glenn had the belief that they could collect the means and go forward. “[The administration was] Really moved by the concept and the idea, and it was almost an instant 'yes', which simply blew me away “. “”

In view of the musical scope of the request, the choir also had to double its vocal ensemble for the performance. They planned to work with two other chöfen, but each group had to pull out at the last minute.

“We were in the wire with deadlines and it looked like they had to cancel our concert,” recalls Dr. Glenn. “And I was only heartbreaking, because at that point we had made all efforts not only to compose the piece, but also learned most of it, and we were so excited about it.”

Determined to bring the numbers to what they needed, the students worked with Dr. Glenn together to create an advertising video for recruiting new singers. The last clip came together unusually quickly, with the recording, filming and processing taking place within 24 hours.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pmgvbrdrzu

“We had built ours within a week and a half [choir] Pay again what we needed, ”says Dr. Glenn.

“Before that, I never thought of being able to appear in Carnegie Hall,” says Mia Malit-Cruz, an alumna that Dr. Glenn supported throughout the process. “There were many times in which it was in danger to be canceled because we didn't have enough participants, but then the Lord gave way.”

While survivors of the tragedies presented had personal connections to certain movements, the last section, which was inspired by the forest fires of Lahaina, felt especially near home.

“Of course, this feels very personally for all of us because we are here on Hawaiian soil,” says Dr. Glenn over the Byu Hawaii Campus in Oahu. “[The movement was symbolic] From us all over the world that come together intercultural to heal the other wounds and do so with the belief in Christ and with hope. ”

Hiwa Walker says that the students are grateful that they had this unique opportunity to share their voices and experiences on a world -famous stage. She particularly appreciated the opportunity to convey the pronounced history and strength of her culture.

“Especially for Hawai'i I have the feeling that people only consider us a tourist destination,” says Hiwa. “Nevertheless, our culture is so rich and our people are united. In times of conflicts and pain we are known to combine and have things happened. For example … I had friends and classmates [who] began to do toy and meal trips for children whose houses were burned down [during the wildfires]. “”

Dr. Glenn and the students hope that the requiem will remind people that peace and harmony are possible due to our divine differences, regardless of where they come from.

“This requiem reminds us all that we are all brothers and sisters, no matter what nationality we speak,” says Mia. “[Being part of the choir] Was like an exercise of how the sky feels – a place where everyone is different, but everyone is the same. And everyone is loved and everyone is important. “

Find out more about the Ho'olōkahi chamber choir here: BYU -Hawaii choir director uses your voice in a great way -from the support of refugees to the development of harmony in the church

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