The LGBTQIA+ community is here and queer all year, but Pride Month is a great time to spotlight LGBTQIA+ musicians and the impact their art, experiences, and ideas have on the classical music world. Classical Queery, hosted by YourClassical’s Mya Temanson, illustrates how classical music can uplift queer voices and how queer experiences can transform the classical music scene.
Mya’s guest this week is Dr. Martha Mockus (she/her), a former scholar of queer, feminist and music studies, and a musician who plays both the piano and the Javanese gamelan. Mockus holds a doctorate in Comparative Studies in Discourse and Society and is currently a department administrator for the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Minnesota. Mockus is also the author of Sounding Out: Lesbian Musicality and Pauline Oliveros. “Queer, lesbian, dyke, lezzie,” Mockus says when asked how she identifies. “I answer to all of them.”
To begin, Mockus is asked what it means to queer — using the word queer as a verb — something. “To queer something is an active project of turning something inside-out and exposing that which is odd, peculiar, and seeing it as a very powerful aesthetic or politics or force for change,” Mockus explains.
And that leads us to this week’s question: “Can you queer classical music?”
Click on the player above to hear Mockus’ response to this week’s question, and explore further with the audio below.
Additional queeries for the curious listener:
What’s queer theory?
How is queer classical music different from traditional classical music?
What’s an example of when classical music has been queered?
Check back in next week for another queery: “What are queer spaces?” Catherine Himmerich, concertmaster of the Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra; Brian Dowdy, director of the Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra; and Danica Rumney, a budding music therapist, weigh in.
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