Empire City Men’s Chorus will present a one-hour program addressing gun violence and police brutality on March 13 and 14, 2026, at Trinity Lutheran Church in New York City.

The program features the New York premiere of Jamie Powe’s “Gun Mass” and Joel Thompson’s “The Seven Last Words of the Unarmed,” presented as a choral essay rather than a traditional concert. Structured around sacred musical forms, the program places contemporary tragedy in direct dialogue with ritual and remembrance.

“Gun Mass,” with text by poet Haley Hodges, was composed in response to the 2022 Uvalde school shooting. The piece uses the structure of the Catholic Mass, the work replaces divine authority with the omnipresence of the gun, naming sites of mass violence including Columbine, Newtown, Parkland, and Uvalde. Meanwhile, “The Seven Last Words of the Unarmed” sets the final spoken words of seven Black men killed in acts of violence involving law enforcement or civilian confrontation. The work draws exclusively on the words of Kenneth Chamberlain, Trayvon Martin, Amadou Diallo, Michael Brown, Oscar Grant, John Crawford, and Eric Garner, transforming their final moments into testimony through individualized musical language.

“This is not a concert designed to make anyone feel comfortable,” said Artistic Director Vince Peterson per an official press release. “These works ask us to sit in grief, to listen without defensiveness, and to recognize the human cost of violence that has become normalized in our country.”

The performances will include a partnership with Gays Against Guns through its Human Beings initiative. Seven members will participate in a silent processional at the opening of the program and sit among the audience during the performance, serving as living memorials to lives lost to gun violence. An information table hosted by Gays Against Guns will provide resources for civic engagement and advocacy.

Performances take place Friday, March 13, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday, March 14, 2026, at 7:00 p.m.

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