Chorus artistic director Gabe Salazar commissioned the work in early 2025, tapping Los Angeles-based composer Saunder Choi<\/a> to create a special tribute for the Orlando attack<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI am deeply moved to be working with Saunder Choi on \u2018Amor Eterno.\u2019 His music carries grief with tenderness and transforms it into something luminous,\u201d Salazar said. \u201cBringing this work to life with our singers is an honor and a powerful act of remembrance and hope.\u201d<\/p>\n Joining GMCSF onstage will be guest classical singers Elisse Albian and Enrico Lagasca, as well as the Symphony of the Americas and members of the Orlando Gay Chorus, Miami Gay Chorus and the Gay Men\u2019s Chorus of Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n The second act of \u201cInvincible\u201d will feature popular anthems, including Katy Perry\u2019s \u201cRoar,\u201d Gloria Estefan\u2019s \u201cGet On Your Feet,\u201d Cynthia Erivo\u2019s \u201cStand Up,\u201d Kelly Clarkson\u2019s \u201cInvincible\u201d and \u201cGolden\u201d from the movie \u201cKPop Demon Hunters.\u201d They will also sing African American hymns\/spirituals \u201cLift Every Voice and Sing\u201d and \u201cGo Down Moses.\u201d<\/p>\n Honoring past struggles<\/p>\n The timing of the show unites several historic milestones. June is Pride Month, when LGBTQ+ communities traditionally commemorate the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City, a pivotal moment in gay and lesbian history. And with the performance falling on Juneteenth<\/a>, a federal holiday that recognizes the abolition of slavery in the United States, it will commemorate the ongoing battles for freedom and equality and help nurture community solidarity, according to the GMCSF.<\/p>\n \u201cChoi\u2019s requiem serves as the artistic heart of the evening. The premiere honors those who lost their lives and celebrates resilience, fostering a sense of shared purpose and hope,\u201d the chorus said in a statement.<\/p>\n Pete Agraan<\/p>\n Saunder Choi is the composer of “Amor Eterno: A Requiem for Pulse.” (Pete Agraan\/Courtesy) Pulse was an Orlando gay bar where, on June 12, 2016, gunman Omar Mateen shot and killed 49 people and wounded another 58. It was \u201cLatin Night,\u201d so many of the victims were of Hispanic descent.<\/p>\n The Pulse shooting<\/a> is the deadliest attack against the LGBTQ+ community in U.S. history and the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001. Mateen identified himself as \u201cMujahideen\u201d<\/a> (a jihadi warrior), and the massacre was deemed an act of terrorism by the FBI.<\/p>\n Religion and mourning<\/p>\n Choi explains that a requiem Mass is a staple of the choral community and comes from Catholicism.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have versions from Mozart to Verdi,\u201d Choi said. \u201cThese requiem settings are settings of the Mass in Latin. And the Mass, in its very Catholic nature, is really focused on \u2026 repose for the departed, to bring their souls from purgatory to heaven in the afterlife. And so a lot of these requiem Masses start with \u2018Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,\u2019 which is \u2018Grant them eternal rest, oh Lord.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n One choral master work in the 1800s broke out of this mold, he said, and focused more on the living. That was Johannes\u00a0Brahms\u2019 \u201cA German Requiem.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot only did he not say it in Latin \u2014 which is what was in vogue at that time; he said it in his native language of German \u2014 [but he also] picked out different texts from the Psalms. And instead of \u2018Grant them eternal rest, oh Lord,\u2019 he starts the entire requiem with \u2018Blessed are they who mourn.\u2019 It\u2019s focused on the living.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd so Brahms has this very humanist humanistic vision of the requiem. That kind of narrative arc of grief towards comfort, I think, is something that I wanted to aspire towards \u2026 in writing this requiem.\u201d<\/p>\n The title\u2019s Mexican roots<\/p>\n Choi collaborated with four poets from around the country: Andrea Assaf in Orlando, Brian Sonia-Wallace in Los Angeles, Amir Rabiyah in Philadelphia and Leo Herrera in New Orleans. It was Herrera\u2019s contribution to the libretto in the first movement that inspired the title, according to Choi.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he really wanted to quote the Juan Gabriel song<\/a>, the Mexican song, which is also called \u2018Amor Eterno.\u2019 Juan Gabriel \u2026 wrote that song when his mom passed away. And so I think it\u2019s a little bit of an homage to that. It\u2019s a nod to Pulse, or Florida being home to a lot of the Latinx population. \u2026 And so Leo, I think, is very intentional in including that in his text. And for me, \u2018Amor Eterno,\u2019\u00a0coincidentally also patterns how most requiems start, which is requiem eternum, eternal rest, eternal love. Yeah, I work very well with parallelisms.\u201d<\/p>\n He also relates to the immigrant part of the Pulse story, having emigrated from the Philippines at age 23.<\/p>\n \u201cLike a lot of immigrants, it was the American dream, that version of the American dream, that led me to come here. It\u2019s not illegal to be gay in the Philippines, but it\u2019s certainly not celebrated as much as it is here. We don\u2019t have marriage equality,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cAnd you know, 2016 was only four years since I moved to America. \u2026 I still had a pretty good version of the American dream in my head. I was still just really happy, really grateful to be here, to be pursuing what I\u2019m pursuing, to be able to date and love who I want to love as a gay man \u2014 a kind of freedom that I never really felt in the Philippines. Pulse was something that kind of broke that for me. \u2026<\/p>\n \u201cBecause this mass shooting happened at a gay bar, it kind of broke something in me and I suddenly became so affected \u2026 I wrote a piece called \u2018American Breakfast\u2019 that kind of responded to the shooting; But also was a commentary on how frequent these things happen in America, that it\u2019s just as regular as breakfast, like: Here\u2019s your American breakfast served with a side of gun.\u201d<\/p>\n Remembrance and healing<\/p>\n \u201cAmor Eterno: A Requiem for Pulse\u201d is different, he said.\u00a0\u201cI think there are two facets to this. I think that art really helps us process things, helps us process trauma in a healthy way. But also art memorializes. You know, at a time when queer stories, rainbow sidewalks, memorials, shrines, paintings, murals \u2026 at a time when they\u2019re being erased<\/a>, I think this is the time when we should be creating more art about queer lives. Because the more art we create, the more impossible it will be for these stories to be erased.\u201d<\/p>\n It has not been easy, though.<\/p>\n \u201cI am just really grateful and honored to be asked to write about this and to create this art. It\u2019s really meaningful for me. [It] has been emotionally heavy for me the past year. But also I feel like I learned a lot and grew from it. There\u2019s a lot of emotional growth that happened in writing this piece.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cInvincible\u201d concert will take place at 8 p.m. Friday, June 19, in the Au-Rene Theater at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale<\/a>. Tickets range in price from $53.10 to $118. Visit browardcenter.org<\/a> or call 954-462-0222.<\/p>\n Ginny Dixon Photography<\/p>\n The Gay Men’s Chorus of South Florida will be joined onstage by guest classical singers Elisse Albian and Enrico Lagasca, as well as the Symphony of the Americas and members of the Orlando Gay Chorus, Miami Gay Chorus and the Gay Men’s Chorus of Tampa Bay. (Ginny Dixon Photography\/Courtesy)<\/p>\n \t\t\t![\"Saunder](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/TFL-L-Saunder-Choi-photo-by-Pete-Agraan-screenshot-2026-03-15-144415-01.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nThe reason for the requiem<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/TFL-L-Gay-Mens-Chorus-of-South-Florida-photo-by-Ginny-Dixon-Screenshot-2026-03-15-144541-01.jpg\")
<\/p>\n