Performances by Boston Cecilia Chorus, Native American Chorus, Opera Singers, and Orchestra
BOSTON, MA — Hailed for creating diverse, timely and relevant opera-theater, White Snake Projects (WSP) presents the U.S. premiere of Brent Michael Davids’s monumental orchestral work Requiem for America: Singing for the Invisible People. This profoundly moving musical work brings an abrupt and necessary shift of perspective amid the celebrations of the 250th anniversary of America’s independence.
Drawing deeply from his Native American heritage, Davids tackles the genocidal founding of America, challenging music norms and sanitized historical rhetoric to give voice to America’s invisible people: American Indians.
Following its acclaimed world premiere in London by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Requiem for America premieres in America in a one-night only concert, November 14, 2026, at NEC’s Jordan Hall in Boston. Tickets go on sale September 8, 2026, at WhiteSnakeProjects.org.
Quote from Brent Michael Davids,
composer/writer: “Requiem for America tells the Indigenous perspective of the original founding events of our shared American history. It sings about the invisibility of Native people. I hope Requiem reminds audiences that Native people have vitality and that our voices can be clearly heard. Requiem is more than a piece of music – it’s a reckoning, a remembrance, and a call to truth through the arts.”
Known for creating a hybrid between Native American song traditions and orchestral concert music, in Requiem, Davids juxtaposes actual historical letters from Native Americans with founding-era genocidal texts from America’s founding to lay bare, state by state, the dark foundations of the United States of America. The inaugural Requiem features 17 states. Requiem for America features a contralto narrator embodying the Earth guiding audiences along a deeply moving musical arc. Requiem begins with Movement #1, “The Doctrine of Discovery”, a Papal edict which authorized European colonizers to subjugate Indigenous peoples; and ends with “Threnoedia”: We Are Still Here.” The Massachusetts movement tells of the Mohicans fighting side by side with American revolutionaries.
Quote from Cerise Lim Jacobs,
producer/dramaturg/artistic director of White Snake Projects: “250 years later we are continuing to build equity through the arts. To ensure that Indigenous voices are represented at America’s semi-quincentennial, we commissioned this powerful piece to raise Native voices. We are excited to share Native American perspectives on America’s founding and their stories and music that have too often been overlooked or exoticized in mainstream performing arts.”
Quote from John Luther Adams,
composer/supporter: “As we struggle against the deep legacy of racism in the United States, it’s high time for us to face and to mourn the genocide of Native Americans, on which this nation was founded. I'm proud to be associated with this project.”
