Artistic Allies: How One Person Helped Bring the Mozart Requiem Undead Project to Life

*The author conducts MRU (Greg Coleman/LensPortraits Photography)*

Mozart Requiem Undead, held in Austin in 2014, was a groundbreaking new music event that brought together prominent composers, musicians, and organizations in the city's contemporary music scene. An amalgamation of the efforts of Texas Choral Consort (of which I served as artistic director), Convergence, Golden Hornet, Texas Performing Arts, and Fusebox Festival, the project aimed to complete Mozart's Requiem by filling in his blank staves with original composed sounds from various composers, each in their own artistic voice.

The three creators of the project, Graham Reynolds, Peter Stopschinski, and myself, engaged prominent composers such as Wilco’s Glenn Kotche, Caroline Shaw (2013 Pulitzer Prize-winner) Adrian Quesada (Black Pumas/Grupo Fantasma), DJ Spooky, Kate Moore, Justin Sherburn, Petra Haden, and Todd Reynolds to fill in the blank staves of Mozart's infamously incomplete score. The author was tasked with the responsibility of recruiting, hiring, rehearsing, and conducting the more than 150 orchestral, vocal, and soloist forces, as well as fundraising the $30k+ to cover the performance costs.

The sold-out concert was a smashing success and author's efforts were duly recognized, with the project garnering eight Austin Critics Table Awards nominations in 2014, winning two categories: Best Choral Performance (for Texas Choral Consort) and Best Austin Vocalist (for Convergence soloist Cameron Beauchamp). PBS affiliate KLRU produced and aired a 30-minute feature on the project, and the overwhelmingly positive local press coverage and national-level praise from entities such as New Music USA and Chorus America helped validate the author's decades of tireless work in Austin’s contemporary music scene. To this day, it remains Austin’s largest and most successful new music performance.

Whatever accolades I might have personally gained regarding MRU, however, I must humbly submit a confession. While the project was indeed the result of the effort of hundreds of amazing donors, musicians, guest artists, across multiple organizations, there is one person without whom this project would never have seen the light of day.

MRU performance (complete YouTube playlist)

THE central figure in MRU’s success was man named Tom Westrup. Tom was instrumental in helping me steer TCC away from its traditionalist past and towards a more adventurous direction, and as one of the author's staunchest allies, Tom helped me maintain focus on MRU during some fierce internal challenges which arose during the project. When the author's relations with the TCC board became severely strained in the years leading up to MRU (some felt that my new music adventures would surely destroy the group and fought tooth-and-nail to quell my artistic vision), Tom provided much-needed support, and further suggested that he and I simply produce it under our own new management if should TCC pull the plug.

Thanks to Tom's tireless encouragement, his help in my efforts to recruit more visionary board members, and SO many more behind-the-scenes production tasks to possibly list them here, the Mozart Requiem Undead went off without a hitch. While he no longer lives in Texas, I recently had the pleasure to thank him in person on his first post-pandemic visit to Austin. It was truly fantastic to get the opportunity to relive all the fun times together.

THIS is what a good friend and artistic ally looks like. May all other artists be so lucky to have someone like Tom guy in their lives.