Chicago Sinfonietta celebrates LGBTQ composers and musicians in “More than a Letter"

The Chicago Sinfonietta presents "More Than a Letter," which celebrates self-identity and self-expression through the artistry of LGBTQ composers and musicians, and features guest conductor Michael Morgan, concert pianist Sara Davis Buechner plus performances from Musicality and Allegrezza Singers. The Sinfonietta performs More Than a Letter twice: first at Wentz Concert Hall of North Central College, Naperville, Saturday, March 25 at 8 pm, and then again in Symphony Center, Monday, March 27 at 7:30 pm.

According to a recent press release "led by guest conductor Michael Morgan, Music Director of the Oakland
Symphony and former Assistant Conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the program begins with Curie High School's professional caliber vocal ensemble, Musicality, who were recently featured on America's Got Talent, joining the orchestra for a performance of Stand in the Light written by Lauren Christy and Grammy- and Oscar-nominated writer and producer Stephan Moccio. The first half continues with Leonard Bernstein’s clever and vibrant Candide Overture followed by Sergei Rachmaninoff’s tour-de-force Variations on a Theme by Paganini featuring internationally acclaimed pianist Sara Davis Buechner, who began her career as David and has shared her personal transition story nationally and internationally as an advocate for LGBTQ artists in the field for more than twenty years. Samuel Barber’s Overture to the School for Scandal opens the second half which then continues with the Chicago Premiere of Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award-winning composer Jennifer Higdon’s Peachtree Street. The Allegrezza Singers join the orchestra for the remainder of the program including David Conte’s moving work Elegy for Matthew, written in honor of Matthew Shepard, a young, gay man who was the victim of one of the most notorious anti-gay hate crimes in American history and whose death spurred legislative movement toward extending the legal definition of hate crimes to attacks on sexual orientation. The concert then comes to a close with Bernstein’s Quintet from West Side Story and Somewhere featuring soloists from Allegrezza."

Tickets can be purchase by calling the Chicago Sinfonietta at (312) 284-1554 or via www.chicagosinfonietta.org. Image courtesy of the Chicago Sinfonietta.