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By Jacob Stockinger
It sure is shaping up as a year for movies about symphony orchestra conductors.
First there was the film “Tár” — now playing on Amazon Prime — about a woman composer-conductor, played by Cate Blanchett, that won a Golden Globe, BAFTA and Critics Choice awards but has also been harshly questioned and criticized as unfactual, biased, unfair.
Also in the works is a much-anticipated documentary about conductor Marin Alsop — a student and protegee of Leonard Bernstein (below) who became the first globally know female conductor and is reportedly the inspiration for “Tár.” (John DeMain, the music director and conductor of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, also worked with Bernstein.)
And now there is the movie “Maestro” about the biggest conductor of them all, the larger-than-life Leonard Bernstein (below, in a photo by Jack Mitchell).
The official trailer-teaser for the movie has just been released. You can get a sneak peek at it in the YouTube video at the bottom.
The movie is a biopic of the famously popular American conductor, composer, pianist and educator and his wife, the Chilean-Costa Rican actress and social activist Felicia Montealegre (played by Carey Mulligan), shown with Lenny below in s photo from The Sun.
The clip is only about 1-½ minutes long. But even that is enough to prove telling in many ways.
Bernstein is played by actor Bradley Cooper, who also wrote and directed the film, which is being produced by cinema titan Martin Scorsese — a hard-to-beat pedigree when it comes to backers.
The Ear also finds that Cooper has an uncanny resemblance to Lenny not only in how he looks — even with the prosthetic nose that some criticize but Bernstein’s children defend. He also speaks like Lenny, laughs like Lenny, smokes like Lenny and conducts like Lenny, who was perhaps the most documented figures ever to exist in classical music.
And of course to express the romantic yearning and hints of tragedy the soundtrack relies heavily the famous Adagietto movement from Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, which was used decades ago for similar reasons in the movie version of Thomas Mann’s novella “Death in Venice.”
No surprise there. Mahler and Bernstein fans know that the rediscovery of Mahler’s music in the mid-20th century was championed and led by Bernstein, who succeeded in making the neglected Mahler mainstream. So the music is more than appropriate in carping Bernstein’s passionate view of life and music.
One puzzling feature is that none of the preview materials The Ear has seen mentions Bernstein’s bisexuality. It led to many personal and professional conflicts and dramatic moments throughout their lives, and one must assume that it is not avoided in the movie.
Maybe they just don’t want too give away a major plot point.
But it makes The Ear wonder if the current cultural hostility to things LGBTQ+ is leading the moviemakers to back away from a reveal that comes too early and gives the hateful right-wing, fact-denying homophobes more time to martial their forces for a harmful boycott like they did with Bud Light beer and Target’s collection of Pride Month clothing.
We will soon see as the unveiling schedule unfolds.
On Sept. 2 “Maestro” makes its debut at the 80th Venice Film Festival, where critics, actors and industry people will get a first view.
The movie hits selected cinemas on Nov. 22.
Finally, it will premiere via streaming on Netflix on Dec. 22.
It should be fun — and perhaps alarming — to follow it as its audience grows.
Here is a link to the Wikipedia entry for the film. It includes background and the current controversy about the “Jewface” stereotypes created by Cooper using a prosthetic nose. It will be updated often, one expects.
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
June is Pride month.
And this weekend will see Pride marches and celebrations in some major cities including New York City, Chicago, Paris and Rome.
As time passes, scholars are finding out more about the LGBTQ+ composers, performers and musical groups that have been hidden by history.
And some ironies emerge. One can only imagine the response of conservative, right-wing Evangelical Christians who find out that the composer of “Messiah” – George Frideric Handel (below) — was queer, at least according to some researchers.
For most listeners, surprises abound.
Here is a good place to start. It is the very large Wikipedia entry of LGBTQ+ composers and performers, both contemporary and historical. The Ear finds it very informative. It is organized by the kind of musicians they are and the category of their sexual identity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:LGBT_musicians
Finally, here are some of the international music ensembles – with audio samples of their performances — made up of LGBTQ+ singers and instrumentalists, including the Rainbow Symphony of Paris (in the YouTube video at the bottom, performing the beautiful Gloria by the gay French composer Francis Poulenc in a benefit Concert Against Homophobia for UNESCO): https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/best-lgbtq-classical-music-ensembles/
Inevitably, some readers will react by asking: What difference does the sexual identity of composer or performer make? All that matters, they argue, is the music.
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
This past weekend, this whole past month, the Rainbow flags (below) have been flying openly and high.
We saw all sorts of major Pride parades for LGBTQ rights as well as the 50th anniversary of the riots at the Stonewall Inn in New York City that eventually gave birth to a worldwide movement to ensure that queer people receive the human rights they deserve.
Since today is the last day of June, of Pride month, it seems fitting to recall the many LGBTQ composers and performers in classical music.
The gay rights movement has opened the closet doors not only of individual lives today but also of historical figures.
So here are several lists that may teach you something new about gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer musicians.
Some of the calls seem iffy, unconvincing or overstated. Beethoven, Schubert and Chopin, for example, lived when homoerotic friendship did not necessarily mean a queer sexual identity. But one way or the other, historical proof and documentation can be hard to come by. And clearly there is much more to know about the past.
But take a look. At least you will see how scholars are undertaking new research and often undermining the heterosexual assumption that has wrapped so many historical and even contemporary figures in wrong or mistaken gender identity.
And if you find someone missing, please leave the name and appropriate information in the comment section.
Freedom, acceptance and respect are not zero-sum games in which one person or group can win only if another one loses. There is enough of each to go around. All can celebrate pride.
So enjoy the information, whether it is new or not, and the respect it should inspire for the central role of LGBTQ people in the arts both past and present.
Here is a pretty extensive and comprehensive list, in alphabetical order, from Wikipedia of LGBT composers, both living and dead. It includes Chester Biscardi (below) who did graduate work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Pauline Oliveros who did a residency at the UW-Madison several years ago. You don’t have to click on each name. Just hover the cursor arrow over the name and you will see a photo and biographical blurb.
And here is a list, also in alphabetical order and also from Wikipedia, of LGBT musicians and performers, not all of them classical. It works by clicking on sub-categories that include nationality – though one wonders if musicians from extremely homophobic countries and cultures are included.
Here is a more selective list from The Advocate, an LGBTQ magazine, of 18 queer composers — including Corelli — who made history and you should know about:
And in the YouTube video at the bottom is a Pride concert — 1 hour and 43 minutes long — recently held in New York City at the Greene Space, and hosted and recorded by radio stations WQXR and WNYC.
It features music by queer composers and performances by queer artists. Metropolitan Opera star Anthony Roth Constanzo performs. Also playing are pianists Steven Blier and Sara Davis Buechner, who have performed with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, respectively. The New York Gay Men’s Chorus sings. The Ear found the concert timely and moving.
If you have questions, comments or additional names, please do leave word in the comment section.
The Well-Tempered Ear 
To celebrate Pride month, here are lists of LGBTQ+ composers, performers and musical ensembles
1 Comment
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
June is Pride month.
And this weekend will see Pride marches and celebrations in some major cities including New York City, Chicago, Paris and Rome.
As time passes, scholars are finding out more about the LGBTQ+ composers, performers and musical groups that have been hidden by history.
And some ironies emerge. One can only imagine the response of conservative, right-wing Evangelical Christians who find out that the composer of “Messiah” – George Frideric Handel (below) — was queer, at least according to some researchers.
For most listeners, surprises abound.
Here is a good place to start. It is the very large Wikipedia entry of LGBTQ+ composers and performers, both contemporary and historical. The Ear finds it very informative. It is organized by the kind of musicians they are and the category of their sexual identity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:LGBT_musicians
If you want to be more selective, try these: https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/greatest-lgbtq-conductors-you-should-know/. They include Marin Alsop (below top) and her teacher and mentor Leonard Bernstein (below bottom).
Here is longer essay that focuses on lesbian conductors as well as gay men and reaches back to the Middle Ages: http://www.glbtqarchive.com/arts/conductors_A.pdf
And here is one with some great photos or pictures of the individuals: https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/great-classical-composers-who-were-gay/
Finally, here are some of the international music ensembles – with audio samples of their performances — made up of LGBTQ+ singers and instrumentalists, including the Rainbow Symphony of Paris (in the YouTube video at the bottom, performing the beautiful Gloria by the gay French composer Francis Poulenc in a benefit Concert Against Homophobia for UNESCO): https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/best-lgbtq-classical-music-ensembles/
Inevitably, some readers will react by asking: What difference does the sexual identity of composer or performer make? All that matters, they argue, is the music.
Here is a reply to that specious argument that focuses on Yannick Nézet-Séguin (below), the music director of the Metropolitan Opera, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the City Symphony of Montreal. It appeared in The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/15/arts/music/yannick-nezet-seguin-met-opera-gay.html
Happy Pride – this month and every day of the year!
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