Embedded Files
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.
Collecting Stories!
Collecting Stories!
On World AIDS Day this December, Chicago will host the premiere of a new nine-movement choral requiem honoring those we lost to the AIDS crisis, composed by D. J. Rodriguez. But before a single note is sung, the evening opens with something just as important: your stories. We're gathering memories from:
• Anyone who lost someone (a partner, friend, mentor, chosen family) to AIDS. Who were they? What do you want people to remember?
• Survivors whose lives were shaped by the epidemic: the fear, the caregiving, the activism, the grief, the hope and beauty that come out of terrible times, and what came after.
These stories will be shared as part of the ceremony itself, read aloud either by you, if you're able to attend, or by a member of the choir on your behalf. This isn't a religious service. It's a space for collective memory, held with care, ahead of a piece of music built to carry grief and hope side by side. A generation was lost, and so much of what they knew and carried was lost with them. This is one way of making sure that doesn't happen again.
Share your story: info@djrodriguezmusic.com
Libera Me excerpt from “Requiem for a Lost Generation”
Libera Me excerpt from “Requiem for a Lost Generation”
The Libera Me, written for lower voices, gives expression to those near the end of life during the height of the epidemic. Their plea is not only for spiritual deliverance but for release from physical suffering, fear, and heartbreak.
Confutatis excerpt from “Requiem for a Lost Generation”
Confutatis excerpt from “Requiem for a Lost Generation”
The driving, intense lines of the Confutatis reflect the crushing weight of internalized shame . The echoes of judgment that convinced so many they were unworthy or abandoned. The gentle, luminous passages honor the compassion that emerged in the darkest moments: the lesbian caregivers, medical professionals who risked stigma, and every ally who chose love when the world did not.
Sanctus excerpt from “Requiem for a Lost Generation”
Sanctus excerpt from “Requiem for a Lost Generation”
In this Sanctus, the Osanna becomes an act of resistance.
Driven by the spirit of ACT UP, it celebrates collective power while acknowledging how fragile and compromised hope often was.
Agnus Dei excerpt from “Requiem for a Lost Generation”
Agnus Dei excerpt from “Requiem for a Lost Generation”
A prayer for peace. A cry for justice.
The Agnus Dei from Requiem for a Lost Generation brings together soprano soloist and treble choir in a luminous, aching dialogue of lament, hope, and moral reckoning. It asks for comfort for those we lost, and accountability from a world that turned away when compassion was needed most.
Follow the Kickstarter prelaunch page to stay connected and help bring this premiere to life.
Lacrimosa excerpt from “Requiem for a Lost Generation”
Lacrimosa excerpt from “Requiem for a Lost Generation”
The Lacrimosa gives voice to overwhelming grief: the tears of partners, friends, and chosen families, the exhaustion of caregivers, and the heartbreak of clinicians facing a relentless disease. As losses mounted and indifference persisted, sorrow deepened day by day. The music rises and falls in waves of despair, reflecting a community submerged in grief, searching for relief that never comes.
Page updated
Report abuse