Enhanced by stunning artistic projections, this performance showcases Mozart’s Requiem, performed by chorus and professional orchestra. Powerful and timeless, this work captures the depth of human emotion and the enduring search for peace.

The first half of the concert will highlight the National Symphonic Chorus on a program of works by renowned conductor/composer Jake Runestad, including Ritual, Shifting Sand, Beauty Is Life, Please Stay, and Your Soul Is Song. 

JAKE RUNESTAD, GUEST CONDUCTOR

Considered “one of the best of the younger American composers” (Chicago Tribune), EMMY®-winning and GRAMMY®-nominated composer and conductor Jake Runestad has received commissions and performances from leading ensembles and organizations such as Washington National Opera, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, the Pacific Symphony & Chorale, True Concord Voices & Orchestra, the Netherlands Radio Choir, the Philippine Madrigal Singers, Seraphic Fire, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, and many more. “The Hope of Loving,” the first album dedicated to Jake’s choral music, recorded by professional American choir Conspirare, received a GRAMMY® nomination. In 2019, Jake became one of the youngest composers ever awarded the prestigious Raymond C. Brock commission by the American Choral Directors Association. “Earth Symphony,” Jake’s ground-breaking choral symphony written with librettist Todd Boss, earned a 2022 EMMY® Award for musical composition. Jake’s visceral music and charismatic personality have fostered a busy schedule of commissions, residencies, workshops, and conducting engagements, enabling him to share his passion for creativity, expressivity, and community with musicians around the world.

Dubbed a “choral rockstar” by American Public Media, Jake is one of the most frequently performed composers of concert music. His thoughtful and compelling works “that speak to some of the most pressing and moving issues of our time” (Star Tribune), have been heard in thousands of performances across the globe. Jake Runestad holds a Master’s degree in composition from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University where he studied with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts.

JEFFREY BENSON, GUEST CONDUCTOR

Jeffrey Benson is currently the Charlene Archibeque Endowed Professor of Choral Music and Director of Choral Activities at San José State University. He also serves as Artistic Director of Peninsula Cantare, a community chorus based in Palo Alto, CA. The Washington Post hails his choirs for singing “with an exquisite blend, subtlety of phrasing, confident musicianship and fully supported tone.”

Dr. Benson made his international conducting debut with the Irish Chamber Orchestra and the SJSU Choraliers in Limerick, Ireland in 2016, and he made his Carnegie Hall conducting debut ten years ago. He has served as cover conductor for the Grammy award-winning Washington Chorus, where he helped to prepare the ensemble for Maestros Leonard Slatkin and Marvin Hamlisch.

This season, Benson returns to Carnegie Hall to conduct Elaine Hagenberg’s Illuminare and Mozart's Requiem with orchestra and chorus, and he recently conducted Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard at the Washington National Cathedral with Berkshire Choral International. In the past few years, Dr. Benson’s choirs have been invited to perform with the Rolling Stones, Josh Groban, Andrea Bocelli, Sarah Brightman, the Los Angeles Festival Orchestra and the Skywalker Orchestra.

Dr. Benson is a published composer and arranger, and is the editor of the Jeffrey Benson Choral Series with both Santa Barbara Music Publishing and Gentry Publications. His own compositions are published with Colla Voce Music and Santa Barbara Music Publishing, under the Charlene Archibeque Choral Series.

Benson is Past President of the California Choral Directors Association (CCDA) and currently serves on the National Advocacy and Collaboration Committee for the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). He received his Master’s degree and his Doctorate in Choral Conducting/Music Education from The Florida State University and his Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from New York University. 

PROGRAM

Sunday March 22, 2026 at 1:00 PM
CARNEGIE HALL

National Symphonic Chorus 
Jake Runestad, guest conductor

JAKE RUNESTAD Ritual
JAKE RUNESTAD Shifting Sand
JAKE RUNESTAD Beauty Is Life 
JAKE RUNESTAD Please Stay
JAKE RUNESTAD Your Soul Is Song

National Masterwork Chorus 
Jeffrey Benson, guest conductor 

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Requiem in D Minor, K. 626