Compose Queer and Queerstories have combined their creative skills and community connections to conceive an exciting new project, an anthology of completely new work, performed in concert by the innovative, youth-led choir Divisi at fortyfivedownstairs in February 2025.
Twelve LGBTQI+ composers, both emerging and established, will draw inspiration from narrative non-fiction written by twelve queer writers to create their compositions. Stories of resilience, resistance and fierce queer pride, set to music and sung in soaring harmony.
This is not a stuffy matinée. This is where classical music meets club and cabaret. Each composer has selected a piece of writing from the Queerstories archive of more than 400 short personal stories, each finding a tale that spoke to their own identity, creativity or experience.
The line up is a who’s who of both music and literature, with composers Sia Ahmad, Lucy Blomfield, Gabi Cadenhead, Connor D’Netto, Olivia Diamant, Leila Harris, Lillian Hearne, Cameron Lam, Caerwen Martin, James Rushford, Alex Turley and Sally Whitwell, and writers Fiona Kelly McGregor, Omar Sakr, Liz Duck-Chong, Teddy Dunn, HANDSOME, Dmetri Kakmi, Paul Kidd, Joe Levitt, Tommy Misa, Bastian Fox Phelan and Fletcher Quilty.
“I was thrilled when Coady Green and Alex Gorbatov of Divisi approached me about this project,” said Maeve Marsden, director of Queerstories. “I am sitting on this incredible archive of queer oral histories, wildly divergent in content, themes, tone, generation, background, identity…”
“To find ways to share these stories in new contexts, and to foster new collaborations between queer artists is thrilling, and I think audiences are going to be deeply moved by these new works, and astonished by the collective talent of the 24 artists involved.”
Divisi’s Director Alex Gorbatov, reflects on the experience of queer musicians performing work from the classical canon: “We have spent a lifetime telling beautiful stories to and by communities we aren’t really a part of – stories of people that we can’t see ourself in,” said Gorbatov.
“Now we can unite our skills as musicians and our identities to forge a queer lineage of music in the classical canon. We are creating a new space for our stories and community.”
The composers have taken great inspiration from the writers they’ve selected for their new work, with many enjoying the opportunity to draw on the work of award-winning LGBTQI+ authors, such as Omar Sakr and Fiona Kelly McGregor.
Others chose writing by queer artists who are celebrated work in other forms such as musician HANDSOME, or performance artist Tommy Misa.
“HANDSOME’S story pays homage to the transformative power of queer community spaces & platonic love,” said Emerging composer Olivia Diamont said of her piece. “I’m currently working on bringing the queer clubbing scene into classical music, experimenting with an EDM-choral fusion – as well as crafting some beautiful, softer musical moments.”
Melbourne-based composer Cameron Lam, adapting a piece by Queensland writer Fletcher Quilty, said, “What captured me most about Fletcher Quilty’s Queerstories piece, was the importance of seeing and being seen,” said Lam.
“I’m working to bring to life the feeling of euphoria, safety, and belonging that we bring to spaces when we see another queer person or reveal that facet of ourselves.”
Audiences can enjoy the premiere performance of this new work in February at fortyfivedownstairs, with plans to tour the work in future, and hopes of adding to the archive for other LGBTQI+ choirs for years to come.
Compose Queer x Queerstories
fortyfivedownstairs, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
Performances: 6 – 9 February 2025
Bookings: www.midsumma.org.au
For more information, visit: www.divisichamber.com or www.fortyfivedownstairs.com for details.
Image: Divisi Chamber Singers – photo by Cameron Grant