Students who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community will give a concert. Free and open to the public.

LIVESTREAM LINK

PROGRAM

Nocturnes: No. 5, Boat Song  I  Arnold Cooke
Britta Williams, Soprano; Bird Birmingham, Horn
Kevin Bylsma, Piano

Some People are Flowers  I  Yoshi Weinberg
Emily Fluty, Flute

Flute Poetic - I. First  I  Jennifer Higdon
Shannon Lotti, Flute; Stephen Eckert, Piano

Little Miss Perfect  I  Joriah Kwamé
Eleanor Lewis, Soprano; Luca Albano, Piano

You Bring Out The Doctor In Me  I  Andrea Clearfield
Colleen Bur, Soprano; Francisca de Castanheiro de Freitas, Piano

Wenn Ich In Deine Augen Seh  I  Fanny Hansel
Morgan Fausz, Soprano; Louyia Anthony, Soprano;
Lorenzo dos Santos, Piano

Atripla!  I  Eric Reda
Brooke Jones, Soprano; Kevin Bylsma, Piano

Do Not Go My Love  I  Richard Hageman
Abbi Blank, Soprano; Kevin Bylsma, Piano

phytosynthesis  I  Dean Kyle
Shannon Lotti, Flute, Electronics, Plant

I Was Sitting On My Patio I  Orson Abram
Orson Abram, Live Electronics
Dani Hummel-Sass, Mezzo-soprano

NOTES FROM THE PERFORMERS

From Bird Birmingham
Nocturnes, No. 5, Boat Song
Arnold Atkinson Cooke was a British Composer. Born in West Yorkshire, Cooke attended Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, as well as the Berlin University of the Arts, studying with Paul Hindemith. He later taught at the Royal Manchester College of Music. His Nocturnes- 5 Songs for Soprano, Horn, and Piano was written in 1956. The final movement “Boat Song” sets a poem by John Davidson and tells of restlessness, anxiety, and opportunity.

From Emily Fluty
Some People Are Flowers
Yoshi Weinberg is an artistic director, producer, flutist, harpist, and composer based in New York. Their works feature an improvisatory sound and often highlight individual voices through the use of soloists and chamber ensembles, and explore the connection between sound and emotion.
Some people are flowers was inspired by a poem written by nonbinary poet Will Farris, and was composed soon after Weinberg came out as nonbinary themself. They write about the piece: “This work is a coming to terms with past trauma and the effect it has on the physical body” – words that have resonated with me as I have begun my own journey of queer discovery amidst struggles with chronic pain. As we learn and grow, our sense of self becomes more complicated, and the way we move through the world changes. These works by Weinberg and Farris allow us all to share in the experience and examination of the relationship between our minds and bodies; in desire, pain, joy, and the discovery of identity.

From Stephen Eckert
Flute Poetic - 1. First
This piece was written as an adaptation of "Violin Poetic," from which it gets its second and third movements. Higdon wrote this movement, "First," as a work that is uniquely for flute and piano. Using virtuoso passages in both instruments as well as muted piano strings and driving rhythmic material, Higdon weaves a piece that embodies the meaning of a "duo.”

From Elenor Lewis
Little Miss Perfect
The reason I chose this song was because this is exactly what I went through when I came out as bisexual a couple of years ago. I was the "perfect" girl, straight A's, always presented myself well, my life was the picture-perfect routine. Until I realized that I was ignoring something huge. This was the song that helped me slowly come out and realize my true self. This piece has so much meaning for me but that is a small sneak peek!

From Colleen Bur
You Bring Out The Doctor In Me
You Bring Out the Doctor in Me is part of the AIDS Quilt Songbook project, a companion to the AIDS Memorial Quilt project started by NAMES in 1985. The quilt memorializes those who have died of AIDS/HIV, and was started during the crisis when many in the LGBTQ+ community were dying of the disease, experiencing harsh stigma, and often would not receive proper funerals due to it being seen as dirty, dangerous, and even as "gay cancer" culling those the church deemed sinful. It was originally premiered in 1992, as a series of songs focusing on the grief and stigma surrounding AIDS. As an ongoing project, they have continued to commission pieces. You Bring Out the Doctor in Me premiered in 2013, and features a poem by Rafael Campo. The third (of four) verse is as follows:
You bring out the health care proxy in me.
Do not resuscitate
Do not incubate me.
You bring out the chaplain praying in me.
The IV bag hanging, glassy fluids in me.
The nurse in white sneakers toileting me.
The morphine drip, the dream of you dreaming me.
Maybe I’m dying.
Maybe.

From Morgan Fausz and Louiya Anthony
Wenn Ich In Deine Augen Seh
Translations:
When I look into your eyes,
All my pain and sorrow vanish;
But when I kiss your lips,
Then I am wholly healed.

When I lay my head against your breast,
Heavenly bliss steals over me;
But when you say: I love you!
I must weep bitter tears.

From Brooke Jones
Atripla!
Atripla! was released on World AIDS Day in 2014 for the AIDS Quilt Songbook. This art song recites all the possible side effects of the medication “Atripla," which is used to treat HIV.

From Abbi Blank
Do Not Go My Love
This piece depicts feelings of anxiety and the fear of falling asleep with your loved one, for fear of missing being present with them.  Perhaps a fear of waking to find them gone.  This piece resonated to me, a lot within a queer context of so many feeling their time with their partner is fleeting or must be kept hidden and kept secret.

From Dean Kyle
phytosynthesis
phytosynthesis began as a botanical duo exploring what happens when a musician shares a performative musical space with a plant. As it grew, the plant raised an important point about honoring the needs and voices of fellow living beings. A human, with care and collaborative spirit, might engage with them to create something greater than either individual could alone. There is music in all manner of things; a plant is no exception.

From Orson Abram
I Was Sitting On My Patio
*US Premier*
A few years ago, while looking for percussion repertoire to learn for an upcoming recital, I had the concept of turning one-person plays into theatrical percussion works. Simply by reading plays out loud, I could render works designed for actors into a musical process. Shortly after, I stumbled upon Robert Wilson’s play “I was sitting on my patio this guy appeared I thought I was hallucinating” and found this to be a perfect fit for this experiment. Abandoning the staging and setting for this play, this piece aims to give the audience a rendering of the text and simultaneously play with notions of the abstraction of text from context. Also utilizing a granulation patch that I’ve been working with since 2022, this work also situates me as a secondary performer to the vocalist, whose speech becomes more incomprehensible as the play progresses and the granulation becomes more and more apparent. This piece is made with the fair use laws in mind. Thank you to soundSCAPE Composition and Performance Exchange and Tony Arnold for commissioning this piece.

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Join us in celebrating LGBTQ History Month, a time to highlight the people, events, and milestones that have shaped history. Through programs and activities that are open to all, we invite you to learn more about these contributions, engage in thoughtful conversations, and connect with others. All are welcome to enjoy these events on campus and in the surrounding community.