Requiem for a Lost Generation
Description
Requiem for a Lost Generation
On World AIDS Day, gather with us for an evening of remembrance, storytelling, ritual, and music honoring those we lost to the AIDS crisis, those who survived it, and the community that endured.
The evening begins with a Remembrance Ceremony centered on stories from people whose lives were shaped by the AIDS crisis. We will remember partners, friends, family members, caregivers, activists, and countless others whose lives and stories deserve to remain present. Through shared stories and communal ritual, we will create a space not only for grief, but also for resilience, love, survival, and hope.
The ceremony will culminate in the world premiere of D. J. Rodriguez’s Requiem for a Lost Generation, a new choral work created in remembrance of a generation devastated by AIDS.
Drawing on the traditional Latin Requiem Mass, the work traces an emotional journey through liberation, fear, condemnation, shame, protest, grief, remembrance, and ultimately hope. It also reclaims a sacred musical tradition historically used by institutions that too often denied queer people dignity in both life and death, transforming it into an act of remembrance for the very community that was once excluded.
This is more than a concert.
It is an opportunity to speak names, preserve stories, grieve together, honor extraordinary acts of care and resistance, and remember the people behind a history that can too easily be reduced to numbers.
For those who lived through the AIDS crisis, we hope the evening offers a place for memory and recognition. For those who came after, we hope it offers a chance to listen, learn, and carry these stories forward.
And for everyone, we hope it is a reminder that even in terrifying times, communities can create extraordinary beauty, compassion, resistance, and hope.
December 1, 2026 · World AIDS Day · Chicago
Come remember with us.
*This project is partially supported by an Individual Artists Program grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.
FAQs
- Is this event a religious ceremony?
It is not a religious service, and participation is always optional. While the requiem itself uses the structure of the Latin Mass as a musical form, the surrounding ceremony is secular and focused on shared reflection, remembrance, and care.
- What is a concert/choral requiem?
A concert or choral Requiem is a musical setting of the Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead (Latin: Missa pro defunctis) designed for performance in a concert hall rather than a church liturgy. These large-scale works, often featuring choir, soloists, and orchestra, focus on themes of mourning, peace, and divine judgment.
Not all composers choose to set every part of the Catholic liturgy to music, some use other texts or specifically choose which sections of text to use.
In Requiem for a Lost Generation I was very intentional about which pieces of the traditional latin text I used. This allowed for me to tell the story of the AIDS crisis and our community.
- How can I experience this event if I cannot attend in person?
The goal of this project is accessibility. To that end the plan is to record the entirety of the ceremony and performance to be posted on YouTube. This will ensure that everyone has the ability to experience Requiem for a Lost Generation.
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