Requiem for the Innocent was inspired by the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement throughout 2025 and early 2026, and in particular by the fatal shootings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis in January 2026. They were killed in the same city where George Floyd was murdered in 2020. These deaths are part of a long and painful history of state violence against civilians in the US—from the fire hoses and police dogs turned on civil rights marchers, to the killings at Kent State, to the countless acts of violence captured on video since Rodney King’s beating in 1991. The work honors those who have been lost and asks a question that runs throughout: What must we do? Its answer is unsparing—change will not come from the outside. It must come from us: nothing changes unless we change.

Flute, Oboe/English Horn, Horn, Percussion (timpani, tam-tam, tenor drum, glockenspiel, tubular bells, suspended cymbal, triangle), organ, violin, cello, double bass, SATB chorus, S Bar solos. Publication includes full score, piano-vocal score, parts.

Click here to view a PDF of the full score. (Duration, about 40 minutes)

The first performance was given at Dayspring United Methodist Church, Tempe, AZ, on May 9, 2026. Soloists were Michelle Pérez, soprano, and Nathan De’Shon Myers, baritone. David Schildkret conducted.