Let My Love Be Heard - Jake Runestad 

When there are no words to speak, there is music.

In Spring 2019 my choir was performing this piece. My husband was losing his battle with a brain tumor. We performed it 6 days before he passed away on Good Friday. I continue to be humbled by its beauty.

I almost cried several times while listening to this. You can feel the aching and grief in this song. I wondered how the choir could acheive such a sound, and after hearing the story, it makes sense. Rest in peace.

When the tenors go up to that high A on the last "be heard", TOO GOOD

Choir - thank you. Tenors - you shall all go directly to heaven for your work in this piece.

Does anyone else think the picture of the choir seems to be a moving video at first glance if you're not paying attention?

I LOVE when the choir gradually get louder at 3:45- 4:35! and the Tenors! I could listen to this everyday...

By far the best performance of this piece. Nothing can ever compare to the emotional depth and strength of this performance. It should be regarded as a pinnacle of choral determination, and should serve as an inspiration to any group. This, is how you perform music. This is how you bring music to life.

This song, my god. They did a great job of making me cry in the middle of Algebra...

Thinking about how this song is representing the yearning to have your passed away loved ones hear your love for them makes me so emotional. And when the choir gradually gets louder and higher at the peak of the song, with “let my love be heard” being repeated, it’s like it’s your love desperately trying to reach the deceased, and with each repeat, it tries harder and harder, never giving up. Whether or not it actually reaches is up to debate, but either way, it makes me cry every time. This song is absolutely beautiful, and I want it played at my funeral

Sang this at my school...Very powerful and moving. Made my dad cry...he never does.

I don't know how I'm going to perform this without crying on stage! Honestly one of the most beautiful and heartfelt songs I've ever heard.

im a senior in hs and we’re singing this. i’m going to bawl on the risers as i’ll be singing for my school for the last time. i couldn’t ask to be gifted a greater song to end to.

This piece is absolutely sublime. It is as though the voices of Heaven touching down to Earth. I can't explain it, but it is superbly ethereal and an absolute masterpiece. An incredibly moving tribute to Nohemi. The text speaks so powerfully from the yearning of the heart to the angels. The chords move me to tears every time. Thank you for this piece, Jake Runestad.

this song is just so beautiful im in a high school choir and i remember traveling and hearing a college sing it and the sound just filled the entire room and it was the most beautiful and powerful thing ive ever heard in my entire life

I cry every time I listen to this. This particular performance is so good. It is not rushed and the blend of the voices evokes such power. You can’t rush grief nor can you really show what it feels like, but this song gets so close.

i performed this with an incredibly talented choir and i'll never forget my first time making audience members cry. This is just the most beautiful piece.

I woke up this morning, my heart heavy from the loss of lives in Florida. I was listening on my way to school, and was weeping. Thank you Jake. Beautiful.

I feel like during this COVID-19 time, we all need reassurance. This song is my re-assurance, and I honor those who have passed away in the past, and now. Thank you for this song.

I had chills up my spine the whole song...every note is haunting and beautiful and I truly felt a prick in my heart while listening to this

This song is medicine for my heart today. Stunning to listen to, and to sing. Thank you.

I don't know how to explain it, but when it comes to 3:12, I can imagine the sound as prayers and thoughts that we send for the lost ones being brought up by the angels, and finally reach God at 4:30. For me, that section is the most emotional part of the song. Thank you for creating such a beautiful and heartwarming music, Jake.

I’m crying like a baby. She will forever be remembered because of you all.

I could listen to this song over and over again for the rest of my life and it wouldn't ever become any less amazing.

It’s hard to imagine the amount of stagger breathing they had to practice to get to this perfection. Truly a piece that touches your heart and can be interpreted individually for each and every listener.

Coming back to this song after learning of a miscarriage in my family, I wanted to play this aloud for that little baby I will someday meet in heaven🤍

I cried and cried. Memories of my mum. My dad's fight against dementia. Loss and the human need to hope and hope and be heard. Thank you.

Such a beautiful, powerful piece. I lost my boyfriend of three years on September 28, 2016 and it's music like this that helps get me through the day. Thank you for sharing your gift with the world.

I sang this in my choir in community college for our previous student’s memorial service, as he ended his life. it was tragic, as he wanted to be a professor in music and he was a true mentor to most of us. His memorial service was on his 24th birthday. we all held hands with tears running down our faces, but we sang with such power and passion and grief. his parents were in the front row. We all sobbed during and after singing. my voice silenced out and i mouthed out the words because the pain was too much my voice just stopped, but as a performer you keep going. in a few days, it’ll be 2 years since we all found out he passed away, and I found myself being guided to this song recently. Maybe it’s him telling me he was there listening and he’s reminding me, saying thanks. ❤️

i listen to this every single day. Jake Runestad is one of the greatest composers of our time.

One of my favorite memories is singing this in the choir, the feeling is indescribable.

4:27 ... oh man

That build up....THAT IS HOW YOU GRADUALLY CRESCENDO TO THE CLIMAX!! Beautiful executed and emotionally sound ❤️❤️

Just recently came across this video and it sent tears streaming down my face. I am a member of the Salt Lake Vocal Artists and I need to bring this song up to my director. I would love to sing this beautiful piece of music. And what an amazing message this video brings to the world. Thank you so much for sharing this.

This kind of music makes me feel the most connected to God, and I’m just so grateful for this😭

I remember singing this in HS, and this was the video our director used to introduce us to this piece. To this day, all these years later, I still come back and listen to it. It still channels all the emotions that I dug into when singing as an S1, a range I’ve lost to damage and time. I mourned then the people I’ve lost in my life, and now the person I used to be as well.

I am currently in my high school choir and I love pieces like this (similar ones are Musica Animam Tangens, Sleep, At the Round Earths Imagined Corners, and Flanders Fields) but I had never been moved to tears by a song until I heard this. A truly beautiful piece of music.

So I've never really appreciated choirs enough, but at a concert I went to, there was a staff choir that sung this. I balled my eyes out, I cried when it was over. I'd never quite appreciated choirs until I heard this song. I now love choirs. I can't get enough, but I just had to hear this song again. You can feel the emotion in their voices

i come back to this recording when i’m sad, when i’m happy, practically any time, anywhere. it’s jaw dropping. just stunning.

I'm speechless.... "Let My Heart Be Heard" is such a powerful, beautiful, and peaceful gift from Jake Runestad... Jake, you truly are touched by the heart of God.....

Last year I sang this for All-State, directed by Dr. Talberg. It still makes me cry.

My choir was rehearsing to perform this piece in March. Two weeks before our scheduled performance, the Coronavirus caused the shutdown of most of the country...I’m a 2020 graduate. For me, this song is a quiet remembrance of the lives that have been lost, and a reflection of my last year of high school. This is one of my absolute favorite choral pieces.

Today, it feels like God is saying it back to me. I believe heaven longs for us in the same way as we long for those we have lost.

I really cried listening, it's like you really felt the pain, and the want that your love would be heard

There is so much wonderful tone painting in this piece.. from the whisper of a prayer, to the ahhs being the angels wings as they float up to heaven, to the prayer gradually growing to a plea of angush, and a cry out to God. I saved my fathers life in 2007 because when the paramedics couldnt find anything wrong I went against their recommendation and took him to a hospital. It happened again in 2018 when he was visiting from overseas and i had a gut feeling he was hiding something from me. The third time he caught CoVid. I tried to come save him again but the czech republic closed to border because of the severity of the pandemic. I failed and he paseed away. As ridiculous as it sounds I still believe that had I been able to get there I could have saved him one more time. Just the text of the poetry is enough to draw tears. The music, however adds so much, however Its almost as the words and the music were meant to be together. I wish I had heard this piece in the time after my father passed. It would have helped me so much.

It's tough to listen through, you can quite literally hear their love, and immense pain. Nothing compares to the feeling of the synchrony of song with people you love with music written with such grace. I hope they are all still singing in one way or another. Less politics in/about school, MORE CHOIR!

So beautifully sung CSULB. Dr. Talberg has done extraordinary work with this ensemble.

Sang this for the last time at my high school graduation a few weeks ago and cried as soon as we were done worked with this pieces for whole year and even though I ended up making up the part it still sounded amazing ❤😭

I’m a college student at Northern Arizona University. Dr. Talberg was the conductor for the Arizona All State choir when I was in it. This song reminds me of why I’m going into education every time I hear it and I cry just as hard now as I did the first time. I’ve never had such a beautiful experience singing and have yet to enjoy that again. This song gets me through very hard parts of my life. Thank you, Jake Runestad for composing this masterpiece and thank you Dr. Talberg for the unbelievable experience of singing it.

We are singing this in my high school choir. It is such a beautiful piece. When we get to the choir i have chills down my back. And when we are finished we can hear the echo. I even feel like i can hear the piano part even when our director isn't playing it. So good.

I know I am late to this video but it is just beautiful. It’s amazing how wonderful it sounded in such short notice. Such a beautiful job, I got chills and goosebumps the whole video, bringing me to tears. One of my favorites!

Every few months I come back to this recording and am amazed by the beauty of this choir. It truly feels like for a brief moment I am close to touching the heavens and feeling the love of those we've lost. Thank you for this gift.

When i heard my high school chamber choir sing this i closed my eyes and became transported to the heavens. It truly took me somewhere else

I had the great pleasure of having Jake Runestad come and conduct my choir for a rehersal of this piece. It’s still in my memory, and I’m grateful that we got to have such a close connection to origins of the song. I hope any that are grieving can find peace ❤

Listening to this piece already makes me emotional enough. Singing it must have been a different experience altogether. It's so much different when you're up there, surrounded by the sound. I would love to be able to sing this piece someday.

Incredible music and a tribute to their friend. This singing made me cry for those in my life that I have lost. It feels as though G-d can hear these voices and the departed can appreciate our love for them

I really love how they portrayed this piece and their feelings really poured through as they mourned for their fellow friend.

almost a month ago, my high school choir had the pleasure of being apart of the adopt-a-choir program at Texas Christian University, and the TCU University Singers sang this song for us in a small, dome auditorium. it echoed throughout the small space... there’s nothing more ethereal than hearing this sound vibrating all around you with so much passion. if i could go back to that day and sit in that moment again, i would. it’s something you could never forget.

This piece will always hold such a large place in my heart. In college we performed this piece for our spring tour, a week before our tour we had a member and close friend of mine commit suicide. Performing this piece was one of the most emotional and heart wrenching things we as a group had done and this song really helped us grieve in a way that words never could.

I am in absolute awe. No words can describe the presence this song brings. The emotion and connection brought through this piece of music is something unfathomable.

Recently did this song with my college choir. Sent shivers down my spine every time. Is easily one my favorite songs I've ever done, and I'm so happy that others can revel in the glory that is this beautiful tune, both to sing and to listen to!!!

A fellow choir member and close friend took her life last year and we sang this in her memory. Thank you for writing such beautiful music.

this actually makes me cry so hard. the tenors are so good😭😭

@ 2:46 the chord on "love" is so beautiful oh my goodness i want to cry it was so beautifully orchestrated ughh

4:25 that chord on heard has me ascending 🤧 the power of music ✨🎶

My 8th grade choir teacher showed us this during class and this brought me to tears. You can hear the pain and suffering in there voices when they sing this peice. Such a lovely choir and song.

Dr. Talberg just flew into Shanghai and was the guest conductor for our choir festival. We sung Nyon Nyon and Lift Mine Eyes-- it was amazing. I told him that I set my alarm clock to this recording every morning and he was like ECSTATIC! Love your music!!

Wow!!!! This is heavy. I’m listening and In tears. Absolutely beautiful. Rest in Love Nohemi! 💛💛💛💛

Challenging music for any choir! Thoughtfully sung with a choir of solo voices to emphasize the beautiful chords. Wow!

What a stunning, heartfelt piece. So beautifully set.

I had the blessing of being part of TPSMEA all state for 2019, in band. The choir performed before us; they had about 200 vocalists; there was a reading before the performance of this, about the students’ biggest burdens and fears, some of which I really related to. Let me tell you, with 200 singers, and that beautiful dynamic capabilities, I cried. Hard

We're performing this piece at Indiana State this semester, and it never fails to bring a tear to my eye and a shiver down my spine. Singing it (especially in the building sections) feels like an out-of-body experience. Big fan of Mr. Runestad's work.

After that big part just ends, it makes me think of how Nohemi’s life was cut short, such a tragic story.

I think, I’ve never, I don’t know…. This is the most beautiful and purest form of music I’ve ever heard in my life… Mr Runestad, I just want to say thank you. Every time I listen to this piece, I can’t help but feel emotional. This piece touched me in so many ways. This has to be music beyond the limitations of sound… Thank you to the choir as well for singing it so beautifully.

I am in a group called Voices of Fort Worth. We are a small a capella group in Texas. We are doing your piece for our spring concert. This piece brings so much emotion and is the reason why music can bring us all together. Thank you for composing such a wonderful piece.

Never fails to make me cry. BEAUTIFUL arrangement

this song along with "please stay" saved me. thank you.

We performed this at the University of Texas Arlington my senior year of college. I can’t even begin to describe how this piece affected me and the other members of our choir. Thank you Mr. Runestad for sharing something so full of love and beauty with the world.

I have goosebumps throughout the whole beauty of this wonderful and marvellous blessing of my soul. Thank you from my very heart.

That last heard and the cut offfffff Amazingggggg

Jake, this is a seriously beautiful and moving arrangement, and that's coming from a 60 year old singer who has been doing madrigal and vocal ensemble work since he was 14 y.o. I sing in an ensemble in Juneau, Alaska, called 'Vox Borealis'. We just formed about a month ago, and our conductor is thinking about adding this piece to our repertoire. There are times in this song, like at 3:14, where I can hear how the music interprets angels flying around. Plus, the crescendo towards the end is powerful and very touching because it's saying 'let me love be heard' and man, is it ever! Bravo, on a well done piece of music.

Tuks Camerata sang this piece... They did it justice... I'm happy they also kept the emotion in this song. I'm always in tears

This is the most beautiful song I have ever listened to. I'm moved to tears.

Stumbled upon this song in early February, and sent it to my Director as I was left with chills and in awe. Nearly a month later I find out we are going to be performing it in the Pennsylvania All-State choir this year. Truly amazed by this song

I discovered this piece last weekend the same night I learned of my grandfather's passing. Words cannot express the importance this song has played in my grieving. Thank you for this. During the momentous build up towards the 4:00 minute mark, I can feel reassurance that he is okay in the beautiful power of the composition of this. I've sang in many choirs throughout my short life and had the honor to sing many beautiful pieces but none I've sang have compared to the shear beauty of this work.

I loved singing this with south Salem high school. it was my favorite song we did all year. I can't ever forget the way it made me feel. thank you for writing this.

This is one of the very most beautiful choral settings I have ever heard, and It was performed with simple emotion and love. It is a once in a lifetime performance. It could not be replicated.

Im so proud to myself that i've been contribute as a bass at my high school choir singing this song, what a song,makes my hair all stands up even im the singer

My choir is doing this and it gives me chills every damn time

I’m doing this song in my elite choir soon! I’m so excited to sing this!

I am gonna perform this in the 2022 Florida All-State High School Concert Choir wit you directing, this is one of my most anticipated songs to perform, i can't wait to see you Mr. Runestad

I had the privilege of learning from Dr. Talbert once. He is an incredible artist with the ability to make music so much more than just notes on a paper. This is one of those songs that can enter your heart and deeply stir your feelings. Thank you for this song. ❤

favorite recording of my favorite choral song ♥️

I can't explain what makes me cry every time I hear this piece

Today was one of those days where I needed a Jake Runestad fix (they come around every so often ever since I had the privilege of performing The Peace of Wild Things many years ago). Anyway, I listened again to The Peace of Wild Things, A Silence Haunts Me, Please Stay and Let My Love Be Heard. As usual, I smiled and cried and felt settled deep in my soul.

This is what music is all about. After listening to both this and the UNT A Cappella Choir perform this, I am inspired to go out and do something meaningful because I will let my love for the people in my life be heard. I hope that I get to perform this one day in my life. Thank you for creating such a spectacular masterpiece!!

Singing for times of grief is one of the moments that brings me closest to whatever higher power there is. It's like exposing your soul to the heavens and praying with every ounce of passion and spirituality you have. There's nothing like it.

Knowing the background of this song makes it not only really sad and beautiful, but it makes it an absolutely ESSENTIAL song for every professional choir to perform at some point

This is why when there's nothing left, when all words have been spoken and actions taken, you sing. You sing and you pray someone hears you. You sing for all your emotions and your loss and your pain and your grief and you give yourself to music. This is why I love music, this is why I sing. When words fail, music speaks. Music is the one langauge that the entire world understands. It brings us all together and unites us and reminds us that through everything, our struggles and triumphs and prejudices and feelings towards one another, we all feel the same deep down. We all feel this. When screaming to be heard isn't enough, singing will never fail you.

Every time I listen to this, I hear the sheer incandescent beauty of these voices in this piece and it is so prolific and moving. Just beautiful. Surreal.