Fifty-four students from Brigham Young University–Hawaii recently lent their voices to a historic performance at New York City’s esteemed Carnegie Hall. Under the baton of Dr. Erica Glenn, the university’s Ho’olōkahi Chamber Choir joined four professional opera singers, the New England Symphonic Ensemble, and choral singers from across the globe for the world premiere of a new requiem.
“The students feel like this is their requiem; … it was co-created,” says Dr. Glenn, who composed the 25-minute piece. “It’s directly tied to not only the backgrounds of all of our students but the actual mission of BYU–Hawaii, which is to generate future worldwide leaders in the Church and to facilitate intercultural peacebuilding experiences. And that’s exactly what this has become.”
More than a performance, the Worldwide Requiem symbolized collective healing, resilience, and hope after recent tragedies in Maui, the Philippines, Ukraine, Tonga, Palestine, and Japan. The performance featured first-hand accounts of survivors from four of the six featured disasters.
The final movement of the performance centered on the devastating wildfires in Lahaina, Maui, in 2023. Symbolizing God’s ability to give us beauty for ashes, Moanahiwalani (Hiwa) Walker—a Hawaiian member of the choir—danced hula while wearing leis representing each region from the requiem. Before the performance, she carefully selected plants with symbolic meaning to honor the survivors of the different tragedies.
“When I dance, I am telling a story with my hands and my whole body,” says Hiwa, whose ancestors are from Lahaina. “Being the only Hawaiian speaker 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.”
Watch a clip of the performance below.
The Sacred Message Behind the Music
The journey to performing at Carnegie Hall was years in the making.
In 2023, the BYU–Hawaii concert choir performed Mozart’s Requiem with Peter Tiboris, who founded a concert series at Carnegie Hall. Dr. Glenn says he was so impressed with the choral program that he invited her to select a piece to guest conduct in Manhattan in 2025.
As she considered the opportunity, Dr. Glenn felt inspired to compose a new requiem representing the choir members’ unique backgrounds and experiences. “We have such a diverse choir,” she explains. “We have over 60 countries represented, and within our choir, we have 21 fluent or native languages represented.”
A requiem typically features Latin text, but Dr. Glenn decided to take on a different approach. The Worldwide Requiem includes eight languages—English, Latin, Hawaiian, Ukrainian, Tongan, Waray, Levantine Arabic, and Japanese—and each movement is dedicated to a different region of the world that has experienced war or disaster.
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 recounted her experiences living through Super Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban City, Philippines, in 2013.
“Sharing my eyewitness account and helping to translate that portion of the requiem into my native Waray language felt like offering a prayer from the heart of our people—a way to let the world hear not just our sorrow, but also our strength,” Mitzi says. “It was a sacred act of remembrance and love.”
The Miracles That Led to the Carnegie Hall Debut
Beyond the music itself, Dr. Glenn says a series of miracles made the trip to Carnegie Hall possible.
After composing and rehearsing the requiem, there were several obstacles. First, many students didn’t have the disposable income to afford a trip to New York City, and the department didn’t have the budget for a tour like this.
Yet Dr. Glenn had faith that they could raise the funds and move forward. “[The administration was] really moved by the concept and the idea, and it was almost an instantaneous ‘yes,’ which just blew me away,” she says. “The donors came through, and the support came through.”
Given the musical scope of the requiem, the choir also needed to double their vocal ensemble for the performance. They planned to collaborate with two other choirs, but each group had to pull out at the last minute.
“We were kind of down to the wire with deadlines, and it was looking like they were going to have to cancel our concert,” Dr. Glenn remembers. “And I was just heartsick because at this point, we had gone through all of the effort not only of composing the piece, but also the students had learned most of the piece, and we were so excited about it.”
Determined to bring the numbers up to what they needed, the students worked with Dr. Glenn to create a promotional video for recruiting new singers. The final clip came together unusually quickly, with all of the recording, filming, and editing happening within 24 hours.
“Within like a week and a half, we had built our [choir] numbers back up to what we needed,” Dr. Glenn says.
“Before this, I never thought of being able to perform in Carnegie Hall,” says Mia Malit-Cruz, an alumna who assisted Dr. Glenn throughout the process. “There were a lot of times that it was in danger of getting cancelled because we didn’t have enough participants, but then the Lord provided ways.”
Healing Together and Glimpsing Heaven Through Song
While survivors of the featured tragedies had personal connections to specific movements, the final section, inspired by the Lahaina wildfires, felt especially close to home.
“This one, of course, feels very personal to all of us because we’re here on Hawaiian soil,” Dr. Glenn says of the BYU-Hawaii campus in Oahu. “[The movement was symbolic] of all of us across the world coming together interculturally to heal each other’s wounds and to do so with faith in Christ and with hope.”
Hiwa Walker says that the students are grateful they had this unique opportunity to share their voices and experiences on a world-renowned stage. She especially appreciated the chance to convey her culture’s distinct history and strength.
“Specifically, for Hawai’i, I feel people view us only as a tourist destination,” Hiwa says. “Yet our culture is so rich, and our people are united. In times of conflict and pain, we are known for uniting together and making things happen. For example, … I had friends and classmates [who] started doing toy and food drives for children whose homes had burned down [during the wildfires].”
Dr. Glenn and the students hope the requiem reminds people that peace and harmony are possible because of our divine differences, regardless of where we’re from.
“This requiem is a reminder for all of us that we are all brothers and sisters, no matter what nationality, no matter what language we speak,” Mia says. “[Being part of the choir] has been like a practice run of what heaven will feel like—a place where everyone is different, but everyone is equal. And everyone is loved, and everyone matters.”
Learn more about the Ho’olōkahi Chamber Choir here: BYU–Hawaii’s choral director uses her voice in a big way—from aiding refugees to building harmony in the Church
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