Live OUT Loud at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre
On May 17 - 18, Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus presents Live OUT Loud! at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre! Live OUT Loud is a tribute to the struggles and progress of the LGBTQ+ community, and a proper send off for Joseph J. Buches' historic 20 year residency as the Artistic Director and Conductor of Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus, delivering choral excellence and organizational growth. Under Joe's artistic direction and leadership, we have grown from 35 to over one hundred proud members. We thank Joe for establishing a legacy of music and direction that has saved and positively impacted countless lives at each of our concerts and youth engagement performances. Join us, in Celebrating PRIDE and Joe’s legacy as he directs PGMC one last time in Live OUT Loud!
We are excited to showcase various LGBTQ+ themed commissioned masterpieces. This music celebrates the profound experience of our coming out and the love stories that shape and build the LGBTQ+ community that reminds us to bravely and unapologetically Live OUT Loud!
With selections written by notable composers and lyricists including:
Composers:
Robert Seeley
Robert Maggio
Lyricists:
Robert Espindola (late husband of Robert Seeley)
Philip Littell
A special PGMC commissioned piece "Long Live the Queen (a her-story of drag)" by Composer Andrea Clearfied will be performed by Lyricist and Drag Soloist Cookie Diorio. This piece is a cantata for a drag soloist, chorus, two percussion, bass, and piano.
The celebration continues with popular selections to excite and inspire you including “Rise Up” and “Born This Way!” We will not be erased; we will not be denied; we WILL Live OUT Loud!
Notable Artists
Cookie Diorio
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Cookie Diorio is a Philadelphia-based drag performer, a classically trained vocalist, a songwriter, an activist, a husband, mother of the House of Diorio, a music teacher and lover of all things sparkly. She mastered walking in 5 inch stilettos in the night clubs of Boston, achieved her hair fantasy by studying vintage videos of Grace Bumbry and founded the giving project Art of the Heel.
Cookie grew up in historic Auburn, NY with gospel in her ears, civil rights in her blood and a song in her heart. She trained at Ithaca College in the voice studio of Angus Godwin and learned the many different skills of western classical music from master teachers such as Carol McAmis in vocal pedagogy, Lawrence Doebler in choral arts, Dana Wilson in composition and Patrick Hansen in opera coaching. She has produced many solo shows including the off-broadway production Fire In My Bones: A Gospel Jubilee (Kraine Theater, NYC), given a TEDx talk at Rosetree, had a musical takeover at The Barnes Foundation, premiered the role "Oracle" in Andrea Clearfield's Beyond the Binary, and is an ASSociate Artist of the Bearded Ladies Cabaret.
More information at houseofdiorio.com and follow on IG @cookiediorio.
Andrea Clearfield
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Creating deep emotive musical languages that build cultural and artistic bridges, the music of Andrea Clearfield is performed widely in the U.S. and abroad. She has written over 170 works for opera, chorus, orchestra, chamber ensemble, dance and multimedia collaborations, exploring subjects ranging from freedom and oppression to ancient cultures, environmental sustainability, health and healing, gender and technology. Among her works are 17 large-scale cantatas including one for The Philadelphia Orchestra in collaboration with storyteller and writer Charlotte Blake Alston. She was awarded a Pew Center International Residency Award, a Pew Fellowship in the Arts, two Independence Foundation and Leeway Foundation Fellowships, and Fellowships at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center, American Academy in Rome, Yaddo, MacDowell and Copland House among others. A number of her works are inspired by fieldwork that she conducted in the Nepalese Himalaya documenting Tibetan music. Her opera on the great Tibetan yogi Milarepa, MILA, Great Sorcerer, with librettists Jean-Claude van Itallie and Lois Walden, was presented at the acclaimed NYC Prototype Festival in 2019. She is currently at work on a cantata for drag soloist, chorus and chamber ensemble entitled “Long Live the Queen (a her-story of drag) with librettist/ drag artist Cookie Diorio, a work for orchestra and drumline, a string quartet and a classical guitar quartet. Dr. Clearfield received a DMA in Composition from Temple University where she was awarded the Presidential Fellowship. She served on the composition faculty at The University of the Arts from 1986-2011. She played keyboards with the Relâche Ensemble for 25 years and held the honor of performing with the Court of the Dalai Lama. Clearfield has served on the Board of the Recording Academy/Grammy's Philadelphia Chapter and currently serves on the Executive Board of Wildflower Composers, amplifying voices of young female, transgender, nonbinary, and genderqueer composers. Passionate about building community around the arts, she is also founder, curator and host of the Philadelphia SALON, featuring contemporary, classical, jazz, folk, electronic, dance and world music since 1986. She is represented by Black Tea Music. More information at www.andreaclearfield.com.