2022 in Review

With your support, we had a wonderfully
generative and productive year! 

We are still so in awe of the artistry presented at last June's festival at National Sawdust where, over the course of  two evenings we presented a new collaboration by Miriam Parker and Mazz Swift, weaving musical voices into conversation across the centuries through improvisation and movement in conversation with new works by three fantastic emerging composers drawn from our 2020 call for scores.

On night two, we were so proud to perform Gay Guerrilla by iconoclastic queer composer Julius Eastman  presented in a new arrangement for string septet by Jessie Montgomery, featuring Montgomery on violin. Curated in partnership with featured artists, the concert creates a portrait of Eastman’s New York City: through an immersive reflection by Eastman scholar Isaac Jean-François, with a new film by Ashanti Soldier and Kham Owens, and through works of Eastman’s colleague and contemporary Tania León. Eastman’s visionary experimentalism is echoed in the poetry of Arthur Rimbaud, set by Benjamin Britten in his Les Illuminations, and sung by soprano Melissa Wimbish.

Later that June we were so happy return to WQXR to participate in their annual pride show hosted by Sara Davis Buechner where CQ artists Abi Fayette, Izzy Gleicher and Jules Biber performed works by Franz Schubert and emerging composer, Joy Guidry.

In  April, we were thrilled to co-present composer, performer and social justice artist, Anthony R Green in two performances of his world premier interactive project Add(+)POWER featuring cellist Thomas Barth at the Flea Theatre. In collaboration with a teach of poets, visual artists, multi-media artists and composers, ADD(+)POWER was Green's queerest and most interactive projects to date! 

In October, We brought the fun to central park with a chamber music reading party hosted by our dear friend and collaborator Kebra Seyoun-Charles at the Bethesda fountain where a large group of queer musicians and listeners alike gathered for a beautiful evening of spontaneous music making and queer  community building. 

We wrapped up our events this year with a beautifully curated concert by Brian at Trinity Wall St. exploring the intersection of queerness and Christianity, contesting historical understandings of queer and marginalized people's place in a world shaped by the church.

You made this possible, and we couldn't be more grateful!

An immense thank you to our 2021-2022 supporters!

Brooklyn Arts Council
NYC Dept of Cultural Affairs
New Music USA
Chamber Music America

Joseph Abrahamson
Andrew Albin
Claire Anderson-Wheeler
Anne Buonaiuto
Carman Buonaiuto
Glynnis Gourhan
Sharlene Hesse-Biber, in memory of Helene Skramko
Richard Lalli
Jessica Meyer
Valerie Moore
Sara Noble
Aisslinn Nosky
Teddy Papes and Madeline Healey
Julian Polaris
Ilana White
Michi Wiancko