Official site of composer Andrea Clearfield. Biography, list of works with audio, score samples, reviews and program notes, photographs, upcoming performances.
Long Live the Queen (a her-story of drag) – work in progress
Scoring: drag soloist, chorus, winds, strings and percussion (or reduced scoring of piano, bass and percussion) Text: Cookie Diorio Duration: complete work in three parts will be one hour Premiere: Part 1 was premiered on May 17 with Cookie Diorio, the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus and instrumental quartet Published by: Angelfire Press. Distributed by Black Tea Music. Contact Trudy Chan
for score and parts. For questions, contact Andrea:
WATCH short excerpt from the Finale of Part 1
NOTES
Long Live the Queen (a her-story of drag) in collaboration with drag artist/opera singer/librettist and costume designer, Cookie Diorio, will be scored for chorus, a large chamber instrumentation of strings, winds, piano and percussion. The work will explore a unique intersection of opera, multimedia cantata, drag, cabaret, and performance art. Presented in three periods: 1. Before (When), 2. Now (Conflict), and 3. Forward (Where), it will incorporate staging, visuals, lighting, and costumes. The Prologue, composed at Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and Part 1, at The Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center Residency had its premiere in a reduced scoring with the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus, conducted by Joseph Buches on May 17-18, 2024 at Suzanne Roberts Theater and was received with excitement and enthusiasm. Portions of the work were performed in concert at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Pride 2024 event at Rockefeller Center on June 12, 2024. Long Live the Queen Part 1 will also be a featured work at the GALA Festival (LGBTQ+ Choruses, over 7000 singers) in Minneapolis on July 13, 2024.
The work tells stories of Cookie’s life as a Black, genderqueer drag artist through original texts, quotations from role model drag queens, highlighting the role drag plays in our society and the LGBTQ+ community and educating others to the long and rich history of drag performance dating back to Shakespeare and Monteverdi operas that were performed “en travesti” (in disguise/“in drag”). The piece will include contributions of drag performers as activists and proponents for social change, as well as the impact our social systems have on drag. The dynamic work will create a vision for understanding, acceptance and social and cultural change in light of increased discrimination of drag events and performers in the U.S.
Drag has traditionally been used on the opera stage solely as a contrived way to impose specific voice parts upon a character as the travesti role. Conversely, using classical vocal performance to express drag culture, drag history, and contemporary modes of drag performance from an authentic, first-person point of view is an avenue that has yet to be fully explored in opera. The art of drag and operatic performance share commonalities in language, form, and function: both require high levels of technical skill and artistic development; both rely upon storytelling through music and both have a grandiosity in visual design and aesthetic quality.
Parts 2 and 3 have yet to be written. The creative team is seeking funding to complete the work.
Long Live the Queen (a her-story of drag) – work in progress
Scoring: drag soloist, chorus, winds, strings and percussion (or reduced scoring of piano, bass and percussion)
Text: Cookie Diorio
Duration: complete work in three parts will be one hour
Premiere: Part 1 was premiered on May 17 with Cookie Diorio, the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus and instrumental quartet
Published by: Angelfire Press. Distributed by Black Tea Music. Contact Trudy Chan
for score and parts. For questions, contact Andrea:
WATCH short excerpt from the Finale of Part 1
NOTES
Long Live the Queen (a her-story of drag) in collaboration with drag artist/opera singer/librettist and costume designer, Cookie Diorio, will be scored for chorus, a large chamber instrumentation of strings, winds, piano and percussion. The work will explore a unique intersection of opera, multimedia cantata, drag, cabaret, and performance art. Presented in three periods: 1. Before (When), 2. Now (Conflict), and 3. Forward (Where), it will incorporate staging, visuals, lighting, and costumes. The Prologue, composed at Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and Part 1, at The Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center Residency had its premiere in a reduced scoring with the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus, conducted by Joseph Buches on May 17-18, 2024 at Suzanne Roberts Theater and was received with excitement and enthusiasm. Portions of the work were performed in concert at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Pride 2024 event at Rockefeller Center on June 12, 2024. Long Live the Queen Part 1 will also be a featured work at the GALA Festival (LGBTQ+ Choruses, over 7000 singers) in Minneapolis on July 13, 2024.
The work tells stories of Cookie’s life as a Black, genderqueer drag artist through original texts, quotations from role model drag queens, highlighting the role drag plays in our society and the LGBTQ+ community and educating others to the long and rich history of drag performance dating back to Shakespeare and Monteverdi operas that were performed “en travesti” (in disguise/“in drag”). The piece will include contributions of drag performers as activists and proponents for social change, as well as the impact our social systems have on drag. The dynamic work will create a vision for understanding, acceptance and social and cultural change in light of increased discrimination of drag events and performers in the U.S.
Drag has traditionally been used on the opera stage solely as a contrived way to impose specific voice parts upon a character as the travesti role. Conversely, using classical vocal performance to express drag culture, drag history, and contemporary modes of drag performance from an authentic, first-person point of view is an avenue that has yet to be fully explored in opera. The art of drag and operatic performance share commonalities in language, form, and function: both require high levels of technical skill and artistic development; both rely upon storytelling through music and both have a grandiosity in visual design and aesthetic quality.
Parts 2 and 3 have yet to be written. The creative team is seeking funding to complete the work.