Premiered on February 15th, 2009 at Church of the Reformation in Washington, DC, Paul Leavitt’s Requiem has been performed more and more widely over the last 14 years.
In April 2011 Dr. Thea Kano conducted the European premiere of this new work in an event organized by the Paris Rotary Club at l’Eglise St. Sulpice in Paris, France with 100 singers from New York City and Washington, DC, accompanied by the Orchestre du conservatoire du 6e arrondissement.
In May, 2011 Dr. Kano conducted the New York Premiere at Alice Tully Hall with the NYC Master Chorale and the Empire State Symphonia with 130 singers.
In September 2011, the work was heard again at the “Remember to Love” Festival at Trinity Episcopal Church on Wall Street in commemoration of the terrorist attacks of September 2001.
In 2013 Paul Leavitt’s Requiem was performed by the NOVA Community Chorus and the Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Mark Whitmire at Church of the Epiphany in Washington, DC and at the Masonic Temple in Alexandria, VA.
Mr. Leavitt performed his own work for his first concert with the Arioso Chorale and Orchestra in the fall of 2014.
In October 2017, in partnership with the Flottbek Kantorei, Arioso Chorale performed his Requiem in a benefit concert to support Syrian refugees in Germany with the Emeriti Musici Hamburg Orchestra. A week later, conductor Robertas Servenikas conducted the premiere this work with the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Orchestra in Vilnius.
Most recently Mr. Leavitt partnered with Dr. Stan Engebretson and members of the National Philharmonic Chorus to sing the most recent premiere at the Amalfi Coast Music and Arts Festival in Italy.
Paul Leavitt’s Requiem has been recorded by the Festival Choir of the Church of the Reformation in 2009. There’s also “Requiem Live”, a DVD that was produced of the final concerts in Washington, DC before the Paris and New York premieres with the NYC Master Chorale under the direction of Dr. Thea Kano.
Upcoming performance: Tuesday, June 20th, 2023 at 8PM, Chorale Nota Bene, Toulouse, France.