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Wondering how to celebrate Earth Day? You could volunteer to pick up litter, or help with some trail maintenance, or maybe just sit back and listen to some music.
On April 22, 2012, Park Avenue Christian Church in New York will premier Requiem Pro Avibus Mortuis (Requiem for Extinct Birds) for an a cappella choir and soloists. The music was composed by Hannah Lash and is based on a poem written by her sister, Rachel Maitra.
Lash says a visit to their childhood home inspired the sisters to create the requiem. “We grew up in a rural area, where nature was quite sacred,” Lash says. “We came to the idea together, to write a mass for the birds lost through oil spills, or extinction, or to any kind of disaster, man-made or natural.”
While the mass is in Latin, Lash says it’s not liturgical. “[My sister] tied in the idea of scientific Latin. It’s not pointing in a religious direction, but to a naturalistic one.”
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