Requiem Mass: A Queer Divine Rite

By Holcombe Waller

Requiem Mass: A Queer Divine Rite is an evening length original choral work by American singer and composer Holcombe Waller that invokes remembrance and peace for the dead who suffered persecution for their sexual orientation or gender expression.

​The piece is an emotional and personal work informed by research into the pivotal gay history from the 1980s through present day. Driven by community engagement and local community input, Waller’s Requiem explores the theatricality of ceremony as a means for collective catharsis and cultural introspection around the intersection of religion and LGBTQI identity. Working with local singers, musicians, artists and faith leaders, the performance invites collaborative participation to make it most relevant to its particular time, venue, and cultural context, reflecting on the shifting and complex local narrative of the evolution of social justice for LGBTQI people.

The work will be performed by Sam Allchurch and the Sydney Chamber Choir, inviting participation from singers of all abilities who feel called to the project’s mission, supported by professional singers and instrumentalists. Building off of millennia of queer leadership in religious ceremony, Requiem Mass audaciously plays with the intersection of music, theatre and ceremony to propose a claim for Queer power within our most sacred cultural spaces.

The Australian premiere of Requiem Mass was originally produced by Performance Space for Day for Night: 24 HRS, 2016.