Concert: Requiem at St. Thomas’, Sunnyvale

2024 has been one of the most tragic years for children in recent times. Many individuals in our community have been emotionally impacted by the graphic images of children who have tragically lost their lives in various conflict zones, especially in the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Ukraine. This needless loss of life, beyond our immediate control, pulls us to look for ways to ensure that each child’s life lost this past year was not in vain and that those still living at significant risk can be saved.

In response to these ongoing tragedies, St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Sunnyvale is hosting on Saturday, February 15th, 2025, at 6 PM, a musical performance entitled ‘Requiem,’ featuring the St. Thomas Choir joined by members from other choirs, together with four soloists and a young boy soprano. This performance is a major fund-raising event to support UNICEF. This UN agency has become the gold standard for helping children in over 190 countries whose lives are at significant risk.

The program begins with a brief interlude of stringed instruments, followed by a poem composed and read by our local poet, Veronica Kornberg. Then, the formal Requiem begins.

Benjamin Belew, composer and conductor of the ‘Requiem’ has set out to tell the tragic story of a child’s brief life in a conflict zone. The eight movements progress from a time of sweetness in early childhood to a time of bewilderment, questioning, and growing foreboding. The following movements convey an intense moment of life ending, followed by a haunting silence that slowly yields to a re-awakening of a child’s persevering hope that this was not the end.