The Well-Tempered Ear
Celebrating LGBTQ+ Pride in 2024 through classical music
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By Jacob Stockinger
June is Pride month — an annual event to celebrate LGBTQ+ people, rights, history and culture even at a time when they are under attack by conservative politicians and the religious right.
Like many local media outlets in the West and in many places in Asia, Wisconsin Public Radio and PBS Wisconsin television programs will focus on features about queer figures for Pride Month.
There are more historical and contemporary LGBTQ+ figures in classical music than you might know of or believe.
Here is one example from a Virginia public radio station:
And here is another feature from the ClassicFM radio station in the UK:
https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/classical-pride-festival-returns-2024/
Also from ClassicFM here are 15 important LGHBTQ+ composers — including Jennifer Higdon (below top) and Leonard Bernstein (below bottom and in the YouTube video at the bottom conducting the appropriate finale “Make Our Garden Grow” from his opera “Candide”). You will see links to their music:
https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/great-classical-composers-who-were-gay/
If you are looking to know more about LGBTQ+ classical musicians, here is a quick reference list on Wikipedia of gay composers with names, dates and selected fun facts — although ione doesn’t see as many Asian, Middle Eastern or African names as one might expect:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LGBT_classical_composers
And here, also on Wikipedia, is alphabetic listing with links to longer biographies on Wikipedia. Notice that composer Chester Biscardi — a University of Wisconsin-Madison alumnus (below) — is included:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Gay_composers
Is there a queer composer or performer that has been overlooked?
Is there someone you think has been ignored and should be recognized?
The Ear wants to hear.
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