ChamberQUEER Launches ChamberQUEERantine

Dispatch

Jun 3

ChamberQUEER may have cancelled their second annual in-person festival, but they have launched a virtual one! ChamberQUEERantine will feature half-hour Facebook Live performances from June 8-23 every night at 7 PM EDT on their page. Artists performing include Claire Chase, Conrad Tao, Adam Tendler, Spectrum Ensemble and many more. ChamberQUEER was founded in 2018 by Julia Biber, Danielle Buonaiuto, Brian Mummert, and Andrew Yee, with a mission to program queer artists and composers. Julia Biber and Brian Mummert join Classical Post to discuss the necessity of space for queer musicians, programming, mentorship and more!

ChamberQUEER’s Statement Regarding Black Lives Matter:

This Pride Month and beyond, ChamberQUEER stands in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and the protests in cities across America. Every June, the queer community celebrates the anniversary of our foundational riot, the Stonewall Uprising, commemorated with the first Liberation Day Parade 50 years ago. Stonewall was led by some of the most marginalized members of the community - trans women of color, sex workers, homeless youth - and so we stand with them today. We additionally recognize that the classical music world has perpetuated harmful stereotypes and condoned discrimination and exclusion; one of our organization's core aims is to counteract that trend, not just for LGBTQ+ people, but for everyone.

The LGBTQ+ community is inherently an intersectional one, because we come from every community - but it can be easy to forget that, even during Pride. White friends and allies: we need to step up. Join the protests. Donate to anti-racist organizations. Seek out the voices of Black people telling you about their experiences, like some of the ones at bit.ly/ANTIRACISMRESOURCES - and then listen to them. That’s how we can celebrate Pride this year - not with a parade, but by honoring and fighting for the human dignity of the people who gave us one of our first reasons to feel proud.

Classical Post: Why is it crucial, now more than ever, to have a dedicated online platform and virtual performance space for queer musicians created by queer musicians?

Jules Biber: I think queer visibility has always been crucially important in the arts and beyond but in these strange times with the lack of in-person gatherings, it’s especially important to create space that puts a spotlight on queer artists and performers. LGBTQ+ people have always thrived on a sense of community for support, understanding and most importantly solidarity and these times are no different. I think queer folks are especially vulnerable when they are unable to access this “cocoon”. There is so much to process right now and making space for queer art in this new world of online music making (as unappealing an alternative as it is to the “real thing”) is so crucial as it nurtures our spirits and gives us back that sense of community and belonging, as well as visibility.

CP: The virtual festival celebrates the amazing legacy and resilience of queer artists persisting in the face of adversity. How have these artists inspired you to create ChamberQUEER as an organization?

Jules: We all owe so much to our queer forebearers for paving the way for us and making it possible for many of us to live our truth. Unfortunately, classical music has been one of the slowest art forms to make changes to the status quo. It was only a few years ago that women in the New York Philharmonic had the option to wear pants for concerts! Queers have always existed in this genre but it’s time we shine a proud light on both historic figures and those coming up today to say, we’ve been here the whole time, we’ll continue to be here and our voice matters.

CP: Why is it important to present a wide-range of musical offerings from past and present queer artists? Is it a goal to make the festival musically inclusive? If so, how do you keep cohesion between the selected artists if they are musically varied?

Brian: We’ve really endeavored to make ChamberQUEERantine as diverse as possible, in a variety of senses. We have everything from early music to works being performed by their composers represented, and we’ve included voices from across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. Marginalized status, whether or cultural or economic, can make pursuing a career as an artist more difficult, even prohibitively so; therefore, we also aim to platform underrepresented people in the queer community, thinking intersectionally about whose voices we can help amplify. The thing that ties the whole festival together in the face of all this variety is the prompt we gave our artists: they’re all responding in some way to the question “what does being a queer musician mean to you?” We’re also grouping many of the submissions into themed nights. That said, there may not always be one specific throughline - just as there isn’t one specific way to be a queer person.

CP: ChamberQUEER will soon expand to launch education and mentorship programs for emerging queer composers and performers. Why is it beneficial for emerging queer performers and composers to be mentored by fellow queer artists? Has this kind of program been done before? If not, why do you think that is?

Jules: I think it's always important, in any field, to have educational programs led by people with a direct connection to the people they are mentoring. The best kind of learning environment always involves a certain amount of trust. Knowing that there is a shared queer experience with our mentees (as varied as it might be) can create a really fruitful dynamic for art making. I know for me, coming up in the classical music world, it felt like queer mentors were few and far between but I was SO happy when I found such people whom I could confide in and learn from. I hope we can provide this sense of support and belonging to all the composers and artists we engage with. I don’t know of a program like this that exists in classical music today and that doesn’t surprise me as we’re just starting to prioritize such things in our field, but I hope there will be more soon!

CP: As an organization, ChamberQUEER is led by four equal co-founders. Why did you choose to set up the organization in this way?

Brian: As we were starting ChamberQUEER, we talked a lot about what it meant to “queer classical music” - and one of the norms we talked about was the hierarchical structure of an orchestra, with the conductor up front and in charge. We structured the organization with four equal co-founders in part to mirror the more egalitarian format of a chamber music rehearsal - several players, each with equal input, coming to communal decisions about how to move forward. As a young organization, it also makes it easier for us to divvy up administrative responsibilities: we all have different strengths, and having four of us we can each focus on what we’re best at.

CP: Why is it beneficial for this organization to exist as its own entity outside of a larger institution? Would larger institutional support be helpful at some point?

Jules: I think larger institutions should in general be prioritizing visibility of all points of view in their programming, educational programs, hiring etc. but again, the process has been slow in our field which is why we started our organization in the first place. Our goal is to make a difference in the lives of queer musicians in our field and beyond who feel unseen, underrepresented or ignored. By highlighting our voices and looking at music from the past and present with our unique queer lens, we are drawing attention to our point of view which can and should be appreciated by everyone. I will say, though, that the beauty of a small organization like ours is that we don’t answer to anyone but ourselves and the people we serve, so we can basically get as experimental and creative as we like! However, we can use all the support we can get, so if a large institution were willing to chip in and support what we do, we would be very open to that.

CP: ChamberQUEER has launched a fundraising initiative that will go directly to supporting queer musicians, who are disproportionately affected by our current circumstances due to their marginalized status in the industry and the nation as a whole. Can you talk about the process of setting up this fundraiser? Were there any technical challenges that you weren’t anticipating?

Brian: Luckily, we’ve run this sort of online fundraiser before: our first season in 2019 was in large part funded by a similar crowdfunding initiative, so we’ve been able to get it up and running without a hitch. We hope that as people tune in, and are no doubt blown away by the amazing artists that have agreed to make videos, they’ll help support those artists, most of whom are facing the biggest threat ever to their livelihoods. You can donate here to support the future of queer voices in classical music, and we can’t wait to say hello at 7 PM EDT June 8-23 on our Facebook page!

CP: What reactions have you gotten from artists when asking them to perform as part of ChamberQUEERantine? How has the community come together to pull off this virtual festival?

Jules: The reaction has been amazing! We have almost 50 artists on board who have created some incredible hot off the press content for the festival. Our community has been generous and engaged with their time and talents and we are so grateful for everyone’s involvement with ChamberQUEER. We are and will continue to be here for one another whether online or in person.