COMPOSERS IN PLAY XVI: Sounding the Queer Canon

You are invited to reconsider identities of Queer artists in contemporary classical music and reflect on the nature of the "Queer" musical canon such as it is; such as it might be.

This special evening brings together the exceptional talents of mezzo-soprano Claire McCahan baritone Nathaniel Sullivan and pianist Adam Sherkin as each of these artists bring their own corners of expertise in the repertory to the stage in a myriad song programme that asks big questions about the (North American) queer experience.

Composer Michael Genese joins in person for the Canadian premiere of their poignant and urgent "The Boy with Baleen for Teeth" for mezzo baritone and piano.

Composers and performers unacknowledged or uncelebrated in their own time are here given voices afresh. Join us in investigating what author E.M. Forster once identified as the "great unrecorded history" of Queer artists and their contributions through the 20th and 21st centuries.

​PROGRAMME:

CAROLINE SHAW - How do I find you? (2018) for mezzo-soprano and piano

DAVID Del TREDICI - Three Baritone Songs (1999): No. 3 "Matthew Sheperd; text by Jaime Manrique

EVE BEGLARIAN - Who am I to Say? for voice and piano

CHRIS DeBLASIO - All the way through the Evening (1990) for baritone and piano; text by Perry Brass

~ ~ ~

ANNIKA SOKOLOFKSY - Who am I to Say? (2018) for mezzo and violin

SHERKIN - CARETAKEROFDREAMS* for baritone and piano; text by Fan Wu

MICHAEL GENESE - MeditatIon for Sphere of influence** (2022) for solo piano/electronics

GENESE - The Boy with Baleen for Teeth** (2023) for mezzo baritone and piano; text by Rajiv Mohabir

* WORLD PREMIERE; Piano Lunaire commission

** CANADIAN PREMIERE

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