THE MUSIC: “I’ve spent most of my career scoring movies – and when my mother passed away in 2006 I wrote a Requiem in her honor that was performed at Carnegie Hall in 2008 and later at the Music Sacra festival in Vatican City. Candace Wicke, who conducted this recording, was a main inspiration to actually get this recording done – and flew solo to Prague to conduct the sessions with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. After finding love again in 2023 I got inspired to reimagine this Requiem as a piano concerto – using just the orchestral recording that already existed and writing a new piano part that I could overdub onto the original. I had revisited the Requiem several times over the years – and would occasionally sit down at the piano and play my arrangements of the full score – just for fun. Turns out that the last recording I ever made at my studio before it burned down in the Palisades fire of 1/7/2025 was this piece  – I’ll forever miss this fantastic instrument, but feel fortunate that I captured this recording before the disaster.” – Stephen Edwards

THE COMPOSER: Stephen Edwards is one of today’s most in-demand film and television composers. An accomplished pianist who can be heard on Hollywood’s top soundtracks, Edwards has also won acclaim for his orchestral and choral compositions that have been performed at Carnegie Hall and the Vatican. His original compositions are featured in top grossing films including the multiple Oscar-winning Dallas Buyers Club, Nomadland, Ava, Southpaw, The Mechanic, Amelia, I Love You Philip Morris, and over 50 other films in genres ranging from comedy to action, martial arts and documentaries. Edwards received the Hollywood Film & TV Music Award for his original score to the 2008 film Finding Rin-Tin-Tin and a 2nd award in 2017 for Requiem. The soundtrack of Requiem For My Mother, Edwards’ third commercially-released recording, peaked at #3 on the Billboard Classical Charts in 2017 and was on the Grammy Awards ballot for Outstanding Choral Composition.  Edwards is founder and artistic director of Source in Sync, an independent production music library. A citizen of both the United States and Italy, Edwards lives in California with his two daughters.

MG2501 PRAYER FOR PEACE: SERENADE FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA
Music Composed by STEPHEN EDWARDS
Performed by THE CITY OF PRAGUE PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
Conducted by CANDACE WICKE
Release date: December 19, 2025