200 young people from Salisbury took part in creative workshops with composer Howard Moody in November 2019, discovering the music and themes of his Brussels Requiem. Workshops took place in schools and in Salisbury Cathedral, with participants exploring themes of international and personal reconciliation, singing in seven different languages, and learning music from iconic requiems including those by Fauré, Verdi and Duruflé. The schools involved in the project were Exeter House Special School, Woodlands, Woodford Valley, St Mark’s and Salisbury Cathedral School.
Brussels Requiem was originally commissioned by La Monnaie, Brussels Opera House in 2010. The young people taking part in La Folia’s Requiem: pilot project in autumn 2019 generated their own musical responses to the Brussels Requiem, which will become part of a full-scale performance in September 2020 (subject to funding).