Composer Jeffrey Ryan and poet Suzanne Steele collaborated on Afghanistan: Requiem for a Generation.
Suzanne Steele is Canada’s first War Poet. She spent three years embedded with the Canadian troops at home in Canada and in Afghanistan documenting the realities of wartime. She went on patrol with the soldiers, she met their families, even attended their memorial services. Her poetry inspired Jeffrey Ryan to compose a work that loosely follows the movements of a traditional Requiem mass, but uses very little of the Latin text. The words are in English, French and Pashto. They tell human stories about injury and post-traumatic stress, grieving parents and hungry soldiers.
The Requiem was commissioned by the Calgary Philharmonic in partnership with One Yellow Rabbit. The world premiere took place at the orchestra’s War and Peace Festival on the eve of Remembrance Day.
production credits
Catherine McClelland Producer
Bob Doble Recording Engineer
Ute Schaffland Assistant Recording Engineer