From MidSouth to National: Requiem for Colour Earns Daytime Emmy Nomination
We are honored to share that Requiem for Colour: A Journey through Lament and Joy — the orchestral and choral masterwork composed and conducted by Dr. Jeffery L. Ames — has been nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award.
Following its three wins at the MidSouth Emmy Awards, the work has now been nominated in the category of Outstanding Regional Content in a Daytime Genre for the 53rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards. Winners will be announced on October 30, 2026.
This nomination, presented by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS), marks a national recognition for a work that began more than a decade ago with a deeply personal and historical mission.
A Powerful Choral Journey
Requiem for Colour is a profound requiem told in music, voices, and truth. The work honors the lives and legacies of enslaved Black people from 1619 to 1865, and of contemporary Black martyrs who gave their lives for equality and freedom.
Weaving distinctive Black musical traditions — spirituals, jazz, gospel, hip-hop — with Western European classical forms, the requiem traces 400 years of the Black experience: from West Africa through the Middle Passage, enslavement, and Southern sharecropping, to the Civil Rights Movement and the continuing struggle for justice today.
Composed and conducted by Dr. Jeffery L. Ames, director of choral activities and professor in Belmont University's School of Music, the premiere production featured nearly 200 singers from Belmont and Tennessee State University, a full orchestra, soloists, dancers and orators.
Celebrating Three MidSouth Emmy Wins
The MidSouth wins included:
Entertainment
Dr. Jeffery Ames, Dr. Doyuen Ko and Nic Dugger
Musical Composition/Arrangement
Dr. Jeffery Ames
Audio Recording, Mixing and Design
Dr. Doyuen Ko and Brian Losch
This national nomination follows a historic night for the project. As first reported by Belmont University, Requiem for Colour won three MidSouth Emmy Awards on February 14 at Belmont's Fisher Center for the Performing Arts for its televised performance that aired on Nashville PBS in June 2025.
Read the full story of our MidSouth Emmy wins.
A National Stage: What This Nomination Means
Founded in 1955, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is dedicated to advancing television and honoring excellence across Daytime, Children’s & Family, News & Documentary, Sports, and Technology & Engineering.
The Daytime Emmy nomination places Requiem for Colour on a national stage — a testament to the power of music to commemorate, confront, and inspire hope.
We are deeply grateful to Nashville PBS, Belmont University, Tennessee State University, and every singer, musician, and creative partner who brought this journey to life.
About the Work
Learn more about the music, mission, and scores!
More than a decade ago, the seed for Requiem for Colour was planted on Post-it notes and a “dream wall” of musical ideas. Those themes simmered until January 2022, when Dr. Ames began crafting a Requiem — a mass for the dead — to revisit the conflicts and triumphs of the Black experience. The result is a musical, literary, and visual journey from West Africa to present-day America, honoring enslaved Black lives from 1619 to 1865 and contemporary Black martyrs who sacrificed for equality and freedom.
FULL ARTICLE: The Story Behind Requiem for Colour: A Journey from Africa to Today
Requiem for Colour: A Journey through Lament and Joy is more than a concert. It is a timeline. In this conversation from a PBS performance, Dr. Jeffery L. Ames shares the story and inspiration behind every movement.
FULL ARTICLE: Inside Requiem for Colour: Dr. Ames Walks Through the Music