Historic church partners with Melbourne composer for Boston premiere, memorializes homeless dead

BOSTON - Aug. 22, 2016 - PRLog -- On Tuesday, September 20, 2016, at 7:00 pm, the 100-voice Sing the World Choir from Australia will join forces with the 40-voice Old South Choir to present the Boston premiere of Street Requiem in historic Old South Church. Written in 2014 by Kathleen McGuire, Andy Payne, and Jonathon Welch, Street Requiem received its world premiere in Melbourne, Australia, followed by the American premiere in San Francisco last year. This premiere in Boston takes place just four evenings before the New York City premiere in Carnegie Hall on September 24th. The work is a memorial to the many who have died on the street. It is a highly accessible, contemporary work including English, African, and Persian lyrics alongside a modern setting of the traditional Latin texts. While at times deeply moving, the work is essentially optimistic and uplifting. The composers have utilized gospel, Celtic, neo-Romantic, neo-Baroque, Indigenous, and contemporary genres and instrumentation to reflect the multicultural and multi-faith traditions of modern city living.

Street Requiem will be conducted by Dr. Jonathon Welch, one of the co-creators of the work, who in 2006 founded The Choir of Hard Knocks, a Melbourne-based choir of homeless men and women. His work with them is the subject of an award-winning documentary entitled Beyond Hard Knocks. One very important component of every performance of Street Requiem is the establishment of street choirs in the cities where it is performed. In addition to the many street choirs currently in Australia, there are now successful street choirs in San Francisco and Dallas, and soon in Detroit and Chicago. According to Old South Church's Minister of Music Harry Huff, "It is our dream and prayer that, through the inspiration of Dr. Welch's immensely successful work with the arts in helping to rehabilitate the lives of the un-housed, a street choir will eventually launch in Boston, too."

Old South Church was an obvious choice for the location of this poignant concert. Situated in the heart of Back Bay, the church is actively engaged in homeless ministry. During the brutal winter of 2015, and following the abrupt closing of emergency shelters on Boston's Long Island, the church helped to open the Boston Warm Day Center, operated out of its building. For Old South Church, the concert will also help pay tribute to 'Michael', a homeless man found lying dead on the steps of the church last January. Rev. John Edgerton, a minister at Old South Church, said of the man's death, "Every human life is precious in God's eyes. Whether they are rich or poor, housed or unhoused makes no difference. The church is called to mourn the dead and lead the community in embracing the sacredness of life. We knew we had to do something to memorialize the tragic loss of life playing out every day on Boston's streets. It was literally on our doorstep."

Visit http://www.oldsouth.org/ for more information.