Queer Excellence Through Musical Activism
Creators: name: Lepage, Brandon
Publisher: name: My University
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: Queer Excellence through Musical Activism
subject: Music and Dance
subject: Arts

description: With a focus on the exploration of the world from the queer perspective through music, these recitals highlighted the LGBTQ+ experience in America through the themes of Excellence, Politics, and Representation. Recital 1, “Focus on Flint'' showcased Queer Excellence through the performance of pieces written by composers from Flint. The composers themselves were not all members of the LGBTQ+ community, but I (as an unapologetically queer person) was able to uplift the voices most closely representing the community of Flint while funneling resources (money, positive representations of Flint, etc) directly back into the community itself. Recital 2, “On the Treatment of Repertoire in the Age of the Gun '', used the music of lesbian composer Jennifer Higdon to talk about appropriate ways to program and present music involving gun violence at a time when mass shootings have become commonplace. Highlighting queer politics, I also showed how paradoxical it is that the United State of America is having such a difficult time figuring out how to legislate guns while, particularly in the rural south, there seems to be no shortage of anti-LGBTQ+ laws being presented aiming to eradicate us from the public eye. In my final recital “Exploring “Representation'' Through a BIG (intermediate) Recital”, I charged 4 LGBTQ+ identifying composers to write for professional wind trio and also intermediate level middle/high school wind trio, being certain that the instrumentation remained flexible. Through the creation of repertoire for the intermediate age range, I am able to start filling a gap that exists in our canon while simultaneously offering students and teachers solid examples of positive queer representation. Finishing the recital with my Flute/Harp duo “The Dynamic Duo”, I was also able to foster queer excellence through representation by commissioning a young second-year student at the University of Michigan studying composition. By collaboratively working with him on his composition, I was able to model and represent the highest caliber of queer professionalism while validating the right we have to exist within public spaces without feeling the need to diminish or apologize for our obvious queerness. It is my hope that this dissertation becomes a blueprint for other LGBTQ+ musicians to feel emboldened to exist loudly and proudly through their artistry. Sunday, October 22, 2023, 4:30pm, School of Music, Theatre &amp; Dance, Britton Recital Hall, University of Michigan. Assisted by: Dr. Elizabeth Ames, piano; Jordan Smith, flute; Melissa Coppola, synthesizer. Program: Desmond Sheppard, Kattalagé (Reconciliation), Haden Ploufee, Three Short Streams of Consciousness, Dr. Gary Powell Nash, Galaw Ng Sayaw Sa Apat At Tatlo, Dr. Jonathan Bailey Holland, Sonata for Flute and Piano, Dr. Samuel Zyman, Fantasía Mexicana. Friday, January 19, 2024, 8pm, School of Music, Theatre &amp; Dance, Britton Recital Hall, University of Michigan. Assisted by: Dr. Elizabeth Ames, piano. Program: Jennifer Higdon, rapid♢fire, Jennifer Higdon, Legacy. Monday, April 22, 2024, School of Music, Theatre &amp; Dance, Stamps Auditorium, University of Michigan. Assisted by: Roberto Campa, saxophone; Rachel Miller, harp; Nathan Rodriquez, clarinet. Program: Alfredo A. Cabrera, Mountain Antics &amp; Tiny Beings and Shenanigans Ahead!, Alexis C. Lamb, Help me name this!, Harry Castle, Bagatelephone, Ryan Lindveit, Pastorale, and, Anti-Pastorale, Lowell Liebermann, Sonata for Flute and Harp, Op. 56, Peter Cohn, He Waits for You, B. Spears/Dynamic Duo, I’m Not that Innocent.