▇► PODCAST ► Composer Brent Michael Davids discusses Requiem for America—a sweeping musical reckoning with the genocidal foundations of the United States, told through Indigenous voices. Blending Native American musical traditions with orchestral forces, the piece confronts history through texts both personal and political, culminating in a message of resilience: “We Are Still Here.” A selection of Davids’s music offers a deeper window into his singular artistic voice and lifelong mission. MUSIC: Uncovered Wagon, Tinnitus Quartet, On Lenape Soil, Trumpeting the Stone. ► LISTEN ► https://relevanttones.com/2026/04/20/474-brent-michael-davids-american-requiem/

[OPERAWIRE] Composer Brent Michael Davids, the creator of “Requiem for America,” has been named as one of the recipients of The Native Arts + Cultures Foundation’s (NACF) 2025 SHIFT – Transformative Change + Indigenous Arts award.

The award honors six Native artists, curators, and cultural practitioners whose projects use creativity to advance social change. “Requiem for America,” which was commissioned by White Snake Projects and the Lenape Center and is set to premiere in Boston in 2026, explores themes of healing, systemic change, and truth-telling, confronting the genocidal foundations of the United States and giving voice to Indigenous experiences.

Each performance will feature Indigenous singers from local tribal nations alongside a Western orchestra and vocal ensemble. Davids, co-director of the Lenape Center in Manhattan and a member of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community, is an internationally recognized composer and educator whose works have been performed by major orchestras at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and venues across Europe and Asia.

Creative Capital recently announced $50,000 in funds going to Requiem For America, back on 24 January 2023. I'm tardy announcing this, I know! It is an honor to be so supported and recognized. My official Creative Capital Project was featured on the Creative Capital Carnival.

Creative Capital funding will primarily go toward the composing of the Requiem, and hopefully additional funding will be secured for this massive compositional undertaking. Partial funding will also go toward beginning production expenses. In addition, more supporters have come forward, including a major supporter, Cerise Lim Jacobs and White Snake Projects (WSP), who will take on a major role as Executive Producer. Thank you Cerise and WSP!

Requiem for America has been a long time coming, a decade and a half of ideas and very small steps. With this major support, Requiem will most likely see a premiere in Boston, 2025. Special thanks to our other Producers: The Lenape Center and Dr. Robert Gehrenbeck. To see all our Producers and Supporters, visit the Support link HERE. Many supporters and funders have contributed to partial movements, readings, workshops, and encouraging early renditions of the Requiem. They all have my deepest thanks!  — Brent

​REQUIEM FOR AMERICA is a powerful and courageous journey into America's un-remembered past by Mohican composer Brent Michael Davids, who spins the traditional Death Mass on its head giving voice to America’s invisible people. The lyrics juxtapose genocidal texts from America’s founding against historical letters by the American Indians themselves. Chauvinist Bible verses, the Papal “Doctrine of Discovery,” and writings of prominent US leaders are contrasted with the cries of abuse and desperate pleas for survival articulated by American Indians. The Requiem’s standard 18 movements are reworked into provocative confrontations that challenge both the norms of the traditional Requiem genre and the sanitized rhetoric of American history.

​Choruses and orchestras are invited, from all 50 states, to join REQUIEM FOR AMERICA, as a Collective Consortium partner. For a one-time tax-deductible contribution, partners will receive all the printed music, the Native American flutist, and other perks, such as the composer’s assistance in collaborating with local Native American communities in whose homeland the premieres will take place. Inviting indigenous people to collaborate is vital to this project’s mission.

​By joining forces, each premiere hopes to build good relations with, and foster greater insights from, America’s First Nations. REQUIEM FOR AMERICA will — in musical message and collaborative purpose — strive to bring the founding of our great America out of the shadows, and with it, America’s first nations. Please visit our website, www.requiemforamerica.com, and consider joining our ambitious country-wide project. Will you join us?