Pride Month is a wonderful time to celebrate our unique identities and to reflect on how pride and authenticity show up in our lives. We asked classical musicians in the LGBTQIA community about their thoughts on Pride. The answers we got were incredibly diverse and thought-provoking. For some, Pride means dignity, the opposite of shame; for others, it means surviving despite the odds.  All the artists we spoke to said authenticity and identity directly connected to their musicmaking. Explore this special series, Proud to Be — listen to the one-hour special above and the extensive individual segments below — and help us celebrate the lives and accomplishments of LGBTQIA+ artists in classical music. 

Programming is supported by Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church

Craig Hella Johnson (he/him/his), conductor/composer

Craig Hella Johnson is the founding artistic director of Conspirare, a Grammy-award-winning vocal ensemble based in Austin, Texas. As a composer and arranger of choral music, he blends together music and poetry, as well as sacred and secular styles. His 2016 oratorio, Considering Matthew Shepard, is a contemplation on compassion and understanding in response to the 1998 murder of gay college student Mathew Shepard; the oratorio has been performed by hundreds of choirs around the world. Johnson feels deep gratitude for the creative and musical gifts he says he’s received from being gay and from coming to know himself: “It’s been one of my greatest teachers to be on this journey, and it’s opened so many parts of my mind and my heart. I don’t know if they'd have been opened in this way had I not had this unique wiring as a gay man.”

Clarice Assad (she/her/hers), composer/vocalist/multi-instrumentalist

Born and raised in a musical family in Brazil, Clarice Assad’s music abounds with creativity, color, and experimentation across genres. As a firm believer in play and life-long learning, she holds long-term positions as Composer-Educator in Residence with both the Allentown Symphony Orchestra and the Albany Symphony. Recent commissions include “Total Eclipse,” a concerto for pianist Lara Downes and ROCO, and “The Evolution of AI” for a consortium of orchestras. Assad says growing up queer in Brazil in the 1980s and ‘90s was incredibly challenging, but she found a warm and welcoming community in music and theater: “It was liberating. That made you feel comfortable and confident in your own skin, and that is what I needed as a young person. Those two worlds were the safe havens for me. They still are.”

Andrew Yee (she/they) cellist/composer

Cellist and composer Andrew Yee is a founding member of the Grammy-winning Attacca Quartet and is also an avid soloist and chamber musician. As a curator and creator, her solo project “Halfie” draws on her experience as a biracial trans woman. Yee is also a co-founder of ChamberQueer, a New York-based chamber music collective. As a composer, they’ve written for film and television, including the BBC show We Might Regret This and Wu Tsang’s Moby Dick. In 2024, her quartet “Something Golden” won the Best Commission/New Work of the Year award from Chamber Music America. Yee says for them, pride goes beyond a personal feeling: “On one hand it’s about being able to lift myself up enough to exist in the world as trans, but also it’s a way of bolstering the queer community so that we all have the strength to show up for each other.”

Blake Pouliot (he/him/his), violinist

Blake Pouliot takes great pride in his work and growth as a young professional violinist. Equally excited about chamber music and solo performance, he’s performed with orchestras around the world, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Houston Symphony, and the London Philharmonic. In 2017, Pouliot was a Young Artist in Residence on APM’s Performance Today. Pouliot says music gives him the tools to analyze and understand his emotions: “Music’s almost like the formula in order to help me fix the equation. It doesn’t give me the answer and it doesn’t create the problem, but it does allow access to finding a solution at least.”

Jimmy López (he/him/his) composer/conductor

Jimmy López’s compositions are strongly influenced by his experience as a global citizen. He grew up in Lima, Peru, and moved to Helsinki, Finland, to study at the Sibelius Academy before putting down roots in California. His music reflects issues of our time, from a symphony about space to an oratorio about Dreamers. In 2023, López’s orchestral work, Loud, received its premiere in San Francisco by the International Pride Orchestra. López says music has been a life force for him through many difficult times, and he values music’s capacity to appeal to our feelings: “The most important thing for me is to always appeal to people’s feelings and to create empathy … If we’re able to connect with that humanity of ours, I think we’ll have a better chance of communicating.”

Meg Rohrer (they/she), violinist and violist 

Based in Detroit, Meg Rohrer is a violinist and violist with interests ranging from nature-based music to improvisation and experimental music. They’re a member of contemporary chamber ensemble Hub New Music and Virago, a quartet that explores liminal spaces of improvisation, deep listening and inter-arts collaborations. Rohrer finds alignment between creating experimental chamber music and thriving as a queer, nonbinary person. “Queerness is an existence in which you’re making your own scripts as you move through the world and finding things that truly work for you and resonate,” they say. “Pride means embracing that process, digging in and finding that way of moving that aligns.” 

Brandon Patrick George (he/him/his), flutist 

Brandon Patrick George is a Grammy winning chamber musician, flute soloist and member of Imani Winds. He serves on the flute faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. He is also a mentor of young musicians of color embarking on performance careers. George greatly appreciates the support and unconditional acceptance of his fellow members in Imani Winds. He says, “Being accepted for who I am and being able to live my truth in my personal life allows me to give my best performance because I feel really supported by my colleagues.” 

Thomas Søndergård (he/him/his), conductor 

Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård is the music director of the Minnesota Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. His previous appointments include principal conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Norwegian Radio Orchestra. In January of 2022, he was decorated with a Royal Order of Chivalry, The Order of Dannebrog by Her Majesty Margrethe II, Queen of Denmark. Søndergård believes Pride is not just for young people or for people within the community, but for allies of all ages. He urges families to embrace their queer family members with an open heart and more open language. “I really think it’s very important to [involve] the parents,” he says. “For them to also act differently and try to embrace the young people with different ways of talking about who your partner will be, because there’s a lot of expectation in the way we phrase these questions to our kids.” 

Jonathan Biss (he/him/his), pianist and author 

Pianist and writer Jonathan Biss is an internationally renowned soloist and chamber musician, especially praised for his interpretation of Beethoven’s works. He recently created a project pairing solo works by Schubert with new commissions. Biss was not open about his sexuality for many years, but after he came out, he felt a huge burden lift off his shoulders. “Pride means embracing the totality of who I am, being happy about it and wanting to share it with the world,” he says. “Feeling that there’s no part of me that needs to be protected from view has been the greatest gift to my life, and it’s made music making just feel bigger and more generous and wonderful.” Biss says living authentically is important as an artist because it allows him to access all parts of himself. “Finding the courage to live that authentic life is the best and most important thing you could ever do for yourself, and I know that’s a really difficult, big ask for a lot of people depending on what circumstances you’re living in. But there is a world out there—a community out there—that will embrace you.” 

Seth Parker Woods (he/him/his), cellist and innovator 

For cellist and innovator Seth Parker Woods, Pride is, “Being comfortable in my body, existing in multiple spaces and trying to show up as wholly and fully as myself.” Woods actively chooses to perform works that push classical norms, tell stories that have long been untold, and put his identity—especially his queerness—on full display.  His Grammy nominated autobiographical project Difficult Grace includes bold expressions of queerness, sexuality, race and identity.  In addition to his celebrated solo work, Woods collaborates with Hilary Hahn, the American Modern Opera Company and Chamber Music Detroit. His latest project with the ensemble Wild Up celebrates the work of pioneering gay composer Julius Eastman.  

Michael Abels (he/him/his), composer

Pulitzer Prize-winning and Emmy- and Grammy-nominated composer Michael Abels is perhaps best known for his film scores. He has won various awards for his work with director and actor Jordan Peele, and his scores have been nominated for critics awards, shortlisted for the Oscars and named “Score of the Decade” by the Wrap. He also composes classical works and has worked alongside musicians and ensembles such as the Kronos Quartet, Hilary Hahn, the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Rhiannon Giddens. He also is a co-founder of the Composers Diversity Collective, an advocacy group whose goal is to increase the visibility of composers of color in film, gaming and streaming media. “Pride means courage,” he says. “To risk that judgement and live powerfully in that freedom takes courage.”

Sharon Isbin (she/her/hers), guitarist

Born in Minneapolis, multiple Grammy- and award-winner Sharon Isbin was named the 2020 Musical America Worldwide Instrumentalist of the Year, the first guitarist to receive the coveted honor in its 59-year history. Having appeared as a soloist with more than 200 orchestras and performed in sold-out performances across the globe, Isbin has been described as “the pre-eminent guitarist of our time.” She also was the founder of the Juilliard School’s guitar department in 1989. Boasting a catalog of more than 35 albums and a one-hour documentary on American Public Television, she also is an active chamber musician and has been acclaimed for expanding the guitar repertoire through the premiere and commissioning of pieces by new or rarely performed composers. “Pride to me means celebrating the freedom to live and love in an open and nurturing environment,” she says, “It means encouraging diversity, individuality and creativity.”

Jonathan Howard (he/him/his), bass

Having grown up in London, England, bass vocalist Jonathan Howard became a member of the Grammy and awards-winning vocal ensemble the King’s Singers in 2010. Now in his second decade with the group, he says he has found joy in slowing down and enjoying life at a more leisurely pace compared with his busy years as a student at New College, Oxford. “For me, Pride means that I’m able to live my life without having to think about things which don’t matter,” he says. “It’s an ability to live fully and unapologetically, and without unwanted interruption, so I can be my best self.”

Emmanuel Ceysson (he/him/his), harpist

French harpist Emmanuel Ceysson holds the post of principal harp of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and tours as an international soloist and recitalist. He was previously principal harp of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the Paris Opera. He also teaches harp at the Mannes School of Music and is a visiting professor at the Helsinki Sibelius Academy. In his performances, he challenges the cliches often associated with the harp and pushes his instrument into thrilling new territory. “I consider myself as a human being with a lot of facets to myself,” he says. “Of course, there is the gay man, but there is also the musician. … And so I express different parts of my life experience through music.”

Jennifer Higdon (she/her/hers), composer

Pulitzer Prize- and three-time Grammy-winner Jennifer Higdon is one of America’s most frequently performed living composers. In 2022, she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the highest recognition of artistic merit in the United States. She publishes all her music under her own publishing imprint, Lawdon Press, which she runs with Cheryl Lawson, her spouse of more than 40 years. She describes her relationship with Lawson as “absolutely everything.” She also stresses how valuable it is to live as an out lesbian: “For people who are younger who are not so sure about how visible they can be, I think it’s important for all of us who are out … to show that, yes, it can be a safe way to live, but also it’s important to be able to be yourself.”

Mari Esabel Valverde (she/her/hers), composer/singer

Mari Esabel Valverde is a transgender Mexican-American composer and singer who lives in Minnesota. She has been commissioned by organizations that include the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the American Choral Directors Association, the Seattle Men’s and Women’s Choruses, and Cantus. In 2016, she was the featured composer at the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses Festival, where her work, Our Phoenix, was premièred by six collective ensembles from the United States and Canada. She also sings in multiple professional ensembles, and she has built a reputation as an educator and translator. For her, Pride is much more than a celebration in June: “For trans people, there is a concern for our survival and a feeling that we do not belong in public. And Pride is basically an attitude to reform that narrative. We do belong, indeed. We belong in spite of the odds.”

Conrad Tao (he/him/his), pianist/composer

Conrad Tao is known worldwide for his dynamic performances and imaginative compositions. He performs as a soloist as well as part of the Junction Trio. He is the recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, was named a Gilmore Young Artist in 2012 and won eight consecutive ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards. His first large-scale orchestral work, Everything Must Go, was premiered by the New York Philharmonic in the 2018-19 season. His Violin Concerto, written for violinist Stefan Jackiw, premiered in 2021 with the Atlanta Symphony. Living authentically feels like “a resonance in my gut and a softening in my heart,” he says. “Being authentic means living fully, truly. It means sitting with your own complexity and knowing yourself.”

Davóne Tines (he/him/his), bass-baritone/creator

As a Black, gay, classically trained performer, bass-baritone Davóne Tines blends many art forms and aesthetics to tell stories that resonate with humanity. “Pride means engaging in my own identity … in an ongoing process…,” he says. “I think it’s really wonderful when we have the opportunity to be intentional about self-reflection. … Professionally, this whole idea of continuing to excavate my own identity [and] then allowing that to feature in my work in a pretty direct way is what Pride means to me.” He played the title role in the Detroit Opera revival of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, by Anthony Davis. Other ongoing projects include exploring the works of Julius Eastman; Everything Rises, a multimedia collaboration exploring racial identity and classical music with violinist Jennifer Koh; and Mass, a recital program about the liturgical mass in various traditions. He was named Musical America’s 2022 vocalist of the year and was a winner of the 2020 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, which recognizes extraordinary classical musicians of color.

Sara Davis Buechner (she/her/hers), pianist

Sara Davis Buechner is a pianist and professor of music at Temple University. Assigned male at birth, Buechner won several international competitions and built a strong career before coming out as transgender in the late 1990s. In 1998, she made her “second debut,” under the name Sara Davis Buechner. “I had no choice,” she says. “If I wanted to keep playing the piano for people, I had to stand on the stage and be who I was in all my integrity and all my dignity … and make no more apologies.” Although she faced discrimination early on, she has relaunched her career and regularly performs in Canada, Japan and the United States. She recently premiered an autobiographical theater show, Of Pigs and Pianos, detailing her journey through music and life as a transgender woman. “Pride is authenticity,” she says, “and when you are authentic, you can communicate with people on the highest plane.”

Mark Adamo (he/him/his), composer/librettist

Composer and librettist Mark Adamo is best known for his work as an opera composer, although he has spent the past decade composing chamber and symphonic works, too. In the early 1990s, he volunteered in an ad hoc hospice for people with AIDS. His 1994 work Late Victorians addresses the AIDS crisis. In 2021, the Santa Fe Opera gave the world premiere of The Lord of Cries; he wrote the libretto to a score composed by his spouse, John Corigliano. His Cello Concerto, Last Year, also received its world premiere in 2021. He says, “I think now, as our understanding of sexuality has broadened and deepened, Pride can not only define one set of communities but also build bridges to others … Pride can help all of us interpret who we are and who we can be.”

Ahmed Alabaca (they/them/theirs), composer/conductor

Ahmed Alabaca is a Black nonbinary composer and conductor born and raised in San Bernardino, California. They compose orchestral works, as well as music for the stage and film. In May 2022, the Florida Orchestra premiered their work, “Ode to Liberty.” They also serve as music director of the South Loop Symphony Orchestra, a community orchestra based in Chicago. Early on in their life, they turned to music as a refuge of peace and hope; their compositions often follow this theme. They say, “I remember all the folks being themselves who have made sacrifices so that I can even say that I’m nonbinary — strong people out here in our history and our present day that are doing it. … And that helps me fight through the anxiety and fight through the fear. I have a lot of friends that are composers that are also nonbinary, trans and queer. And I see them, and I’m like, ‘Wow! Oh, I can do it, too!’”

Stephen Hough (he/him/his), pianist/composer

Stephen Hough is a pianist, composer and author. His performance career includes more than 70 recordings, 29 appearances at the BBC Proms, and concerts with top orchestras around the world. In addition to the frequent articles he contributes to news publications, he has published a novel, a book of essays, and a memoir. He also has composed many works, including pieces commissioned by Westminster Abbey, Wigmore Hall and the Berlin Philharmonic. In 2022, Hough was knighted for his extraordinary contributions to cultural life. He recalls a time when being out was not safe and is incredibly grateful for the advances in LGBT rights. “We should never take something like this for granted,” he says. “The fact that I can walk onto the public street and I can marry and can be open about this is an incredible gift.”

Minnesota Orchestra music director Thomas Søndergård explains how he and his husband, baritone Andreas Landin, share their love of music during a chat with YourClassical MPR host Melissa Ousley at an MPR event.

As we celebrate Pride during the month of June, join hosts Julie Amacher and Gabrielle Glass as they interview five LGBTQIA+ artists from the operatic world who will share their story with you, and how their pride impacts their musical identity.

Programming is supported by At Sara’s Table/Chester Creek Cafe and Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church

Playlist

• Ethel Smyth: String Quintet in E major - Scherzo. Allegro vivace - Mannheimer String Quartet

• Georges Bizet: Habenera from Carmen - French National Orchestra; Seiji Ozawa, conductor

• Georges Bizet: Finale from Carmen - Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano; Stephanie Blythe, mezzo-soprano; Chicago Opera 

• Rossa Crean, composer; Aiden Feltkamp, libretto - The Flower of Oblivion from The Priestess of Morphine - Katherine Bruton, soprano; Ben Zucker, vibraphone; Stephen Hudson, cello; Alex Giger, violin

• Samuel Barber: Summer of 1915 from Knoxville - Russell Thomas, tenor

• Leos Janacek, composer; Kathleen Kelly, poet and librettist: Vanished, adopted from The One Who Disappeared - Russell Thomas, tenor; John Holiday, countertenor; Ryan McKinney; producer

• Leonard Bernstein: Overture from West Side Story - Johnny Green, conductor; Studio Orchestra

• Jeanine Tesori: We Wish On Ev’rything You Can Wish On from Blue - Ariana Wehr, soprano; Katerina Burton, soprano; Rehanna Thelwell, mezzo-soprano; Washington National Opera Orchestra; Roderick Cox, conductor

• Lee Hoiby: Where the Music Comes From - David Portillo, tenor; Craig Terry, piano 

• Benjamin Britten: Albert Herring - Act 1, Scene 2 - David Portillo, tenor; Minnesota Opera

• Aaron Copland: Simple Gifts - Peter Pears, tenor; Benjamin Britten, piano 

• Leonard Bernstein: Somewhere from West Side Story Suite, arr. for violin and string orchestra - Daniel Hope, violin; Zürcher Kammerorchester

When reflecting on Pride Month, it's easy to play the same queer composers from classical music history. While listening to Benjamin Britten and Peter Tchaikovsky is valuable, there are plenty of contemporary classical composers to listen to and support during Pride and all year long.

Here's a list of our favorite composers that are also members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Wendy Carlos

Wendy Carlos is a pioneer in the fields of electronic and film music. Her album Switched-On Bach blazed trails in cross-genre music and won three Grammy awards. She composed scores for movies such as A Clockwork Orange, The Shining and Tron. A transgender woman, she was open about transitioning in a time when it wasn't as widely accepted.

Jennifer Higdon

One of the most prolific composers of the 21st century, Jennifer Higdon's works have been recorded and released on more than 60 CDs by ensembles such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Philadelphia Orchestra, among many more. She married her longtime partner, Cheryl Lawson, in 2014, and conductor Marin Alsop officiated the ceremony.

Nico Muhly

Nico Muhly is a contemporary composer who has been sought out in classical and alternative music scenes. He has collaborated with indie artist Sufjan Stevens, worked on Broadway productions, and has conducted for Philip Glass. His 2015 oratorio Sentences told the story of Alan Turing, the mathematician who cracked the German Enigma code during World War II but was later prosecuted for homosexuality. Muhly is open about his own sexuality and mental health, but he lets his work speak for itself.

David Del Tredici

Pultizer Prize-winning composer David Del Tredici has a composition career spanning decades, with a large body of work focusing on his identity as a gay man. His recent work Bullycide deals with gay teen suicide as a result of bullying, while other works focus on the joy of relationships.

John Corigliano

Over the past 40 years, John Corigliano has written more than 100 scores, with many of them earning accolades and awards. An active member of the LGBT community, he channeled his personal grief over the loss of friends to the AIDS crisis into his Symphony No. 1, which has been performed worldwide by more than 150 orchestras.

Meredith Monk

Meredith Monk is a pioneer of extended vocal technique and interdisciplinary performance, with her work being honored in 2015 with a National Medal of Arts. Her work continues to evolve, with her visual and audio art being performed by classical and contemporary ensembles. 

Marc Shaiman

Since starting his career at 16, Marc Shaiman has gone on to compose for TV, film, musicals and the stage. He wrote the score to Hairspray, along with other movies such as Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally and City Slickers. In 2008, he wrote the music to Prop 8: The Musical, his attempt to pick apart the anti-gay marriage lobby's logic for California's amendment that banned gay marriage.

Rufus Wainwright

Many might not know that along with being a renowned contemporary vocalist, Rufus Wainwright has composed two operas. 2017's Hadrian is based on the life of the Roman emperor and his lover, Antinous.

Laura Karpman

Film composer Laura Karpman has written scores for Black Nativity and Paris Can Wait, along with others. Her work Ask Your Mama, based on poems by Langston Hughes, was commissioned by Carnegie Hall and has been performed worldwide. She is married to fellow film composer Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum.

Caroline Shaw

Caroline Shaw has been crafting the future of classical music ever since she was the youngest recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2013. Along with collaborating with popular artists such as Kanye West, the National, and Arcade Fire, she has composed for chamber ensembles, film and theater.

The LGBTQIA+ community is here and queer all year, but Pride Month is a great time to spotlight LGBTQIA+ musicians and the impact their art, experiences, and ideas have on the classical music world. Classical Queery, hosted by YourClassical’s Mya Temanson, illustrates how classical music can uplift queer voices and how queer experiences can transform the classical music scene.

Artistic director of One Voice Mixed Chorus, Kimberly Waigwa (they/them), brings Classical Queery to a close this week with questions of community, intersectionality, and solidarity.

Waigwa’s career is built on a commitment to community, racial justice, and queer advocacy. They have served in educational roles at the likes of Temple University and the Choir School of Delaware. Several ensembles, including the Phoenix Women’s Chorus and Desert Voices Mixed Chorus, have come under their direction before they became the artistic director of Minnesota-based One Voice Mixed Chorus in 2023.

Below, Waigwa answers questions about what community and intersectionality means to them. You can also hear what members of One Voice Mixed Chorus have to say about making music in the LGBTQ+ community.

Programming is supported by Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church

Additional queeries for the curious listener:

What is One Voice Mixed Chorus?

How does your experience as a queer, POC musician inform your work?

Why is it important to highlight the intersections between marginalized communities?

Why is making music with others in the LGBTQ+ community so important?

Music by One Voice Mixed Chorus

“The Lavender Song” — As part of its July 2024 GALA performance, One Voice Mixed Chorus sang this gay anthem from 1920s Germany.

“Time,” from One Voice Mixed Chorus’ concert, Time & (Trans)formation, in January 2024.

To commemorate the fifth anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, One Voice Mixed Chorus gave a concert titled Weather: Stand the Storm in May 2025. “Lift Every Voice and Sing” includes opening material and a collaborative performance between One Voice Mixed Chorus, Singing City, VocalEssence’s Singers of This Age, Elevation of Elevate Vocal Arts, and singing members of Brass Solidarity.

“Way Over in Beulah Lan’” — This is from One Voice’s solo set at Weather: Stand the Storm, an arrangement by Stacey V. Gibbs (he/him) of a traditional spiritual.

The LGBTQIA+ community is here and queer all year, but Pride Month is a great time to spotlight LGBTQIA+ musicians and the impact their art, experiences, and ideas have on the classical music world. Classical Queery, hosted by YourClassical’s Mya Temanson, illustrates how classical music can uplift queer voices and how queer experiences can transform the classical music scene.

This week’s question, “Why should you care?” is answered by Martha Mockus (she/her) and Sonia Mantell (she/her).

Mockus is a former scholar of queer, feminist, and music studies and plays both the piano and the Javanese gamelan. She holds a Ph.D in Comparative Studies in Discourse and Society and is currently a department administrator for the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Minnesota. Mockus is also the author of Sounding Out: Lesbian Musicality and Pauline Oliveros.

Mantell has been a cellist with the Minnesota Orchestra since 2020 and before that was a member of Lyric Opera of Chicago. She studied at the New England Conservatory and the DePaul School of Music (scroll down in this post to watch and listen to a performance by Mantell).

Click on the player above to hear Mockus’ and Mantell’s responses to this week’s question, and explore further with the audio below.

Programming is supported by Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church

Additional queeries for the curious listener:

Martha, why is it important that we’re having this conversation?

Sonia, why is queer joy important in a classical music setting?

Martha, what happens to classical music when we start asking these kinds of questions?

Music by Sonia Mantell

Marc Migó Sonata for violoncello and piano “Cerdanyenca”:
Sonia Mantell, cello; Anna Keiserman, piano

Check back in next week for the final installment of Classical Queery. Kimberly Waigwa, artistic director of One Voice Mixed Chorus, talks about the importance of intersectionality and the power of community. Members of One Voice Mixed Chorus join.

The LGBTQIA+ community is here and queer all year, but Pride Month is a great time to spotlight LGBTQIA+ musicians and the impact their art, experiences, and ideas have on the classical music world. Classical Queery, hosted by YourClassical’s Mya Temanson, illustrates how classical music can uplift queer voices and how queer experiences can transform the classical music scene.

This week’s question, “How can you support the work of trans artists?” is answered by Mari Esabel Valverde (she/her).

Valverde is an award-winning composer from Texas who is currently based in Minnesota. She is a graduate of St. Olaf College and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Her work has taken her across the country, composing for the likes of the American Choral Directors Association, Boston Choral Ensemble, Cantus, and more (scroll down in this post to listen to some of Valverde’s works).

More than anything, Valverde foregrounds the voices and stories of marginalized people in her music. “I see the value of my work reflected whenever I go anywhere and make music with people,” she says.

Click on the player above to hear Valverde’s response to this week’s question, and explore further with the audio below.

Programming is supported by Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church

Additional queeries for the curious listener:

When it comes to centering the voices of trans and BIPOC poets in your music, how does your experience as a trans woman of color inform you?

How can the classical music community better support the work of artists from marginalized communities?

Why are stories of trans joy important?

Music by Mari Esabel Valverde

When Thunder Comes (2016) performed by the St. Olaf Choir

Cantares (2013) performed by Polyphony: Voices of New Mexico

The Lady and the Tiger (2016) performed by Matthew Valverde, Ksenia Leletkina, and Tiffany Valvo

her first snow (2008) performed by the Lirica Chamber Ensemble

Check back in next week for another queery: “Why should you care?” Scholar Martha Mockus returns, joined by Sonia Mantell, a cellist with the Minnesota Orchestra.

The LGBTQIA+ community is here and queer all year, but Pride Month is a great time to spotlight LGBTQIA+ musicians and the impact their art, experiences, and ideas have on the classical music world. Classical Queery, hosted by YourClassical’s Mya Temanson, illustrates how classical music can uplift queer voices and how queer experiences can transform the classical music scene.

This week’s question, “What are Queer Spaces?”, is answered by Catherine Himmerich (she/her) and Danica Rumney (she/her). Brian Dowdy (he/him) contributes to some additional queeries below.

Himmerich is the concertmaster for the Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra, an orchestra founded in 1993 with the goal of creating a space for gay and lesbian musicians to gather and make music. Together, Himmerich and Dowdy, the artistic director of the MPO, have worked to further the original mission, broadening the definition of inclusivity and diversity.

For Pride Month, the Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra will present Love Letters at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, June 27, at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral. Tickets are available on the MPO website.

Having been raised by two classical musicians, Rumney knows the world of classical music like the back of her hand. She will complete her Masters in Music Therapy at the University of Minnesota this fall. Her explorations of musical expression and sexuality have in many ways informed one another, which now inform her practice as a budding music therapist.

Click on the player above to hear Himmerich’s and Rumney’s responses to this week’s question, and explore further with the audio below.

Programming is supported by Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church

Additional queeries for the curious listener:

Brian, what can audiences look forward to at the MPO’s upcoming Pride concert?

How does classical music transform in a queer space?

Danica, you grew up in a deeply musical family. Are music spaces naturally set up to be safer spaces than others?

Check back in next week for another queery: “How can you support the work of trans artists?” Composer and singer Mari Esabel Valverde shares her story.

The LGBTQIA+ community is here and queer all year, but Pride Month is a great time to spotlight LGBTQIA+ musicians and the impact their art, experiences, and ideas have on the classical music world. Classical Queery, hosted by YourClassical’s Mya Temanson, illustrates how classical music can uplift queer voices and how queer experiences can transform the classical music scene.

Mya’s guest this week is Dr. Martha Mockus (she/her), a former scholar of queer, feminist and music studies, and a musician who plays both the piano and the Javanese gamelan. Mockus holds a doctorate in Comparative Studies in Discourse and Society and is currently a department administrator for the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Minnesota. Mockus is also the author of Sounding Out: Lesbian Musicality and Pauline Oliveros. “Queer, lesbian, dyke, lezzie,” Mockus says when asked how she identifies. “I answer to all of them.”

To begin, Mockus is asked what it means to queer — using the word queer as a verb — something. “To queer something is an active project of turning something inside-out and exposing that which is odd, peculiar, and seeing it as a very powerful aesthetic or politics or force for change,” Mockus explains. 

And that leads us to this week’s question: “Can you queer classical music?”

Click on the player above to hear Mockus’ response to this week’s question, and explore further with the audio below.

Programming is supported by Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church

Additional queeries for the curious listener:

What’s queer theory?

How is queer classical music different from traditional classical music?

What’s an example of when classical music has been queered?

Check back in next week for another queery: “What are queer spaces?” Catherine Himmerich, concertmaster of the Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra; Brian Dowdy, director of the Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra; and Danica Rumney, a budding music therapist, weigh in.

It's a different world today for those in the LGBTQIA community, and classical music is becoming refreshingly open and accepting in the 21st century. This week’s episode of Extra Eclectic, with host Steve Seel, showcases composers who paved the way in the 20th century by confronting old prejudices head-on and composers who have benefitted from their courage in the 21st century.

Programming is supported by At Sara’s Table/Chester Creek Cafe and Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church

Episode playlist

Smash
Jennifer Higdon (Composer)
Heard in Havana (Album)
Third Sound Ensemble (Orchestra/Ensemble)
Duration: 4:35

Overture
Jake Heggie (Composer)
Music for a New Century (Album)
New Century Chamber Orchestra (Orchestra/Ensemble)
Duration: 5:42

Move
Nico Muhly (Composer)
Move (Album)
The Westerlies (Orchestra/Ensemble)
Duration: 3:00

Rounds For String Orchestra
David Diamond (Composer)
Mikhail Gurewitsch (Conductor)
American Stringbook (Album)
Do.Gma Chamber Orchestra (Orchestra/Ensemble)
Duration: 14:46

Final State
Kaki King (Composer)
Modern Yesterdays (Album)
Kaki King, Guitar (Soloist)
Duration: 4:33

Parlour Games
Meredith Monk (Composer)
Meredith Monk: Piano Songs (Album)
Ursula Oppens, Piano (Soloist)
Duration: 7:34

Stay On It
Julius Eastman (Composer)
Julius Eastman Vol. 2: Joy Boy (Album)
Wild Up (Orchestra/Ensemble)
Duration: 9:41

Night Waltz
Paul Bowles (Composer)
Double Edge: U.S. Choice (Album)
Double Edge (Orchestra/Ensemble)
Edmund Niemann, Piano (Soloist)
Duration: 4:24

Suite For Violin and American Gamelan: Chaconne
Lou Harrison (Composer)
John Bergamo (Conductor)
La Koro Sutro (Album)
American Gamelan (Orchestra/Ensemble)
David Abel, Violin (Soloist)
Duration: 5:29

Harp Concerto
Jennifer Higdon (Composer)
Ward Stare (Conductor)
American Rapture (Album)
Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra/Ensemble)
Yolanda Kondonassis, Harp (Soloist)
Duration: 21:00

I Will Not Be Sad in This World
Eve Beglarian (Composer)
Eight Visions - A New Anthology for Flute and Piano (Album)
Marya Martin, Flute (Soloist)
Duration: 6:23

Farewell
David Del Tredici (Composer)
In 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores (Album)
Hilary Hahn, Violin (Soloist)
Duration: 4:54

Nightfall
Meredith Monk (Composer)
Lost and Found (Album)
Sean Shibe, Electric Guitar (Soloist)
Duration: 9:38

Bruce the goose always swims his morning laps alone, until his life changes forever on one fateful summer day. Find out what happens in ‘Goose, Goose, Baby Goose!’ – the new episode of YourClassical Storytime, with narration by Ryan Lohr, music by Charles Koechlin and illustrations by Mia Jennings.

June is Pride Month, and Steve Seel features a few different proudly out composers and performers on this week’s show, including Nico Muhly, Ned Rorem, Jennifer Higdon, Lou Harrison, and guitarist Sharon Isbin — who came out at the age of 18 and who has long been a vocal advocate for LGBTQ rights.