@bestofopera.en: Follow @bestofopera for the voices that refuse to be forgotten. 🎵 "Pie Jesu" - Sissel Kyrkjebø Pie Jesu, pie Jesu, Qui tollis peccata mundi, Dona eis requiem, dona eis requiem. Merciful Jesus, merciful Jesus, you who take away the sins of the world, give them rest, give them rest. A boy in Cambodia was forced to choose: kill his own sister, already mutilated, or die with her. That story gave birth to the Requiem from which comes the aria you just heard. Among famous composers who have set Pie Jesu to music, only Andrew Lloyd Webber paired it with the Agnus Dei—"Qui tollis peccata mundi," the phrase she sings on screen, asking rest for the dead. The voice singing this you've already heard before, without knowing who it was. James Horner auditioned about thirty singers before choosing this one for Titanic's score, the most-sold orchestral soundtrack in history—and there she didn't say a word. In the film's score, no words. Here, she asks rest for the dead. And the name that score never carried with the voice was already known for years in Norway: at 18, she recorded the best-selling Christmas album of all time in the country—according to the artist's official website, 450,000 copies sold in Norway alone in the year of release. At 24, that same voice opened the Olympics in Lillehammer, singing the Olympic Hymn in nynorsk, before the whole world. Did you know it was the same voice in both scenes? Work: "Pie Jesu" (Requiem, 1985) Composer: Andrew Lloyd Webber 🇬🇧 Performer: Sissel Kyrkjebø 🇳🇴, soprano Recording: Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem, in concert Follow for more stories that music holds. #BestOfOpera #PieJesu #SisselKyrkjebo #Titanic

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Monday 24 August 2026 20:00:02 GMT