January 6, 2025
Category: Community, Dona Nobis Pacem Project
The 2024 Waring Dona Nobis Pacem Project, a passion project for Head of School Tim Bakland, is a recreation of the 2014 musical video project of the same name. It features current students, faculty, and community members as well as alumni, parents, and friends. Most segments were filmed in person on the Waring campus while others were created remotely to accommodate distance and schedules and to include alumni.
From Core students to the Board and alumni, the project includes a wide age range of participants in the greater Waring community. Some segments include instrumental additions to the traditional round of Dona Nobis Pacem while other segments include touching solos, harmonized duets, a new ‘descant’ line that Tim composed for the 2024 version, and a showcase of diverse musical talents.
Dona Nobis Pacem (or “grant us peace”) originated in the Latin mass tradition and as part of the agnus dei, and has been largely universalized by choruses of all kinds, with several versions combing ‘dona nobis pacem’ with ‘sim shalom’ and ‘saalam’, Hebrew and Arabic expressions of peace, respectively. This round’s particular setting of Dona Nobis Pacem has been attributed to Mozart, though without much evidence, and is typically deemed “Traditional.”
This powerful piece is perfect for a choir, soloists, and orchestras as well as instrumental segments that can make the final product personal and deeply meaningful for the group performing it. We have found this to be true here at Waring.
Nearly a decade ago, the Waring community first set out to film and record our first version of Dona Nobis Pacem. That project took place before the rise of remote collaboration that took shape (by necessity and as a way to foster community) through the COVID-19 pandemic. Having the 2024 rendition be rooted on the campus and sung in person was very important to us, and yet the skills of remote collaboration that we all picked up through the pandemic have allowed us to expand the 2024 experience and widen our participation.
We are so pleased to recreate this powerful musical experience on the 10th anniversary of the original production; the message, and the act of singing in a beloved community, could not be more important today.
As we reveal our latest version of the Dona Nobis Pacem project, it is worth taking a look back at our original performance. Please note the many faculty members who are still part of the Waring community. They all look and sound fantastic! Dona Nobis Pacem 2014 Project
We proudly unveiled our Volume II: 10th Anniversary Edition of the Dona Nobis Pacem project over Winter Vacation and are thrilled at the response.
Thank you to all of the talented musicians, singers and technology gurus who helped put this project together. Our Waring community is unique in our ability to pool our talents and passions to create such a beautiful project and experience.
