"If I were threatened with the destruction of all my works but one,
I would beg mercy for the 'Messe des morts.'"
- Hector Berlioz

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In 2003, Soli Deo Gloria again collaborated with Music Mission Kiev in bringing sacred music to the people of Kiev, Ukraine, as part of Project Uplift. On December 1, conductor Delta David Gier lead the Kiev Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in a performance of Hector Berlioz's Grand' Messe des Morts (Requiem). Maestro Gier is one of America's most gifted young conductors, recognized widely for his penetrating interpretations of the standard repertoire and his passionate commitment to new music.

Click here to view the text of Berlioz's Requiem.

The performance of Berlioz's Requiem took place before a standing-room-only audience of roughly 1,200 in St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Kiev. In addition to leading the performance, Maestro Gier wrote program notes for the piece, highlighting the musical subtleties and spiritual richness of the work.

Click here to view Maestro Gier's program notes on Berlioz' Requiem.

Berlioz begins his Memoires with his first Holy Communion in the Holy Apostolic Roman Catholic Church, which he describes as simultaneously an ecstatic
religious experience and his first musical revelation. Towards the end of his life, he declares himself an atheist saying, 'There is only nothingness,' drawing on Shakespeare for a definition of life: 'a tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing.' Between that beginning and that end, he writes his Grand messe des morts….

- Delta David Gier
from his program notes for
Berlioz's Grand' Messe des Morts

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