A member of the VC Artist Attacca Quartet, the GRAMMY Award-winning cellist Andrew Yee has announced the world premiere of their new work, Trans Requiem, which was performed at the Trinity Church in New York City on September 18, 2025. 

Written for trans voices, choirs, and orchestra, Yee’s work not only amplifies the beauty, strength, and diversity of the trans experience, but affirms the dignity of every voice.

The world premiere was part of the Renewal series by NOVUS, Trinity’s new-music ensemble. Titled “Undivided: Music as a vessel for visibility, pride, and belonging,” the concert invites the audience into a space of empathy and transformation.

 


Accompanying Yee’s work on the program is the Trinity arrangement of Samuel Barber’s Agnus Dei (Adagio for Strings) and Sonic Meditations by Pauline Oliveros.  

The performance will feature the Trinity Choir, Trinity Youth Chorus, and NOVUS. They will be joined by trans singers Breanna Sinclairé and Katherine Goforth as soloists. 

“The thought came to me to write a requiem as I was playing a concert of a mass for someone who had died hundreds of years prior,” Yee told us. “Trump had just been elected for his second term, and his platform was largely based on the defunding and delegitimization of my community. I had not been feeling the pull to create during this time, I just wanted to feel sorrow. Then the thought came to me to not feel shame for feeling sorrow. I could write about it.

“My Trans Requiem not only mourns for those who have passed, but also for the loss of our rights, and safety,” she added. “But much like a traditional mass setting, I also focus on the things that hold us together. I wrote the piece to celebrate my trans community and to have a focused time to uplift and to mourn.

The work is half Latin text and half written mostly by Yee (‘Death Before Detransition’ was written by J Jennifer Espinoza), and she explained that she wanted to contextualize the old text with modern understandings. 

“‘Death Before Detransition’ is a substitute for a Dies Irae,” Yee said. “‘A Kyrie’ begs for mercy to two names of the same God, I ask it of a man who threatened me on the street. ‘Light’ is a response to three sentence social media obituaries for murdered trans women, that I use as an excuse to speak more at length about my friend and hero Cecilia Gentili.

“It is important that this requiem have trans soloists,” Yee expressed. “In this case I have asked two brilliant Trans women to sing, one with a high voice and one a lower voice, to say there is no right or wrong way to sound as a trans artist. Their voice is theirs and I am so happy they are using it to sing my piece into existence. NOVUS NY is my home, and I couldn’t be prouder to be presenting this with them and the world class Trinity Choir for this world premiere.”

To attend the world premiere, click here.