7th & Constance is proud to present the world premiere of A Child's Requiem, a collaboration between composer Thomas LaVoy and poet Esther Margaret Ayers and commissioned by the Marquette Symphony Orchestra. On December 14th, 2013, Dr. Matthew Ludwig conducted the orchestra, along with soprano Renata Kapilevich, the Marquette Senior High School Redmen Chorale, and Lastenkuoro in the first ever performance of the work, composed in observation of the 100th anniversary of the Italian Hall disaster.

In the early 20th century, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan was embroiled in a bitter conflict known as the great Copper Country Strike of 1913. On Christmas Eve of that year, a party was being held for the children of the striking miners in the Italian Hall when a man shouted "Fire!" causing a panic that would leave 73 people dead on the stairs leading down to the street below. The vast majority of the victims were children, and the man who caused the disaster was never positively identified or punished. A Child's Requiem seeks to posthumously elevate the dead out of the context of the Italian Hall disaster; to celebrate them as they were in life and death and not as a statistic used to apportion blame.

To learn more about this work, visit the composer's website at www.thomaslavoy.com. Any parties interested in obtaining the full score for study or performance should contact the composer directly via the information provided on the website.

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