Concert Highlights: Letters to Our Children:
Voices across Generations for LGBTQ+ Youth
This word cloud captures what Coro Allegro's singers wished to offer to LGBTQ+ youth through our recent premiere of Andrea Clearfield's HERE I AM: I AM HERE based on letters to a transgender boy and a survivor of conversion therapy. We offer it to all now grieving the attack, on the eve of the Trans Day of Remembrance, on Club Q, an important safe space for the LGBTQ+ community of Colorado Springs, and angered that the safety of the greater LGBTQ+ community is being compromised by the recent cacophony of bills and hateful voices seeking to silence us. As Boston's LGBTQ+ and allied classical chorus, we have always sought to create a chorus of a different kind—a chorus of singers, of audience members, of supporters, of community partners— that joins our voices together to affirm our common humanity and builds bridges that strengthen community. We are grateful to you for being part of it. We are stronger together.
Coro Allegro is proud to be Boston's LGBTQ+ and allied classical chorus and we thank you for standing with us!
- Thank you to our audience for making our recent Letters concert such a powerful and uplifting expression of community and pride and for adding your voices to the Letters Project.
- Thank you to our narrators, Mimi Lemay and Sam Brinton, our Pinkham Award recipient, for their courageous and inspiring words and work to save lives.
- Thank you to our guest artists—Sonja DuToit Tengblad, soprano, Jonas Budris, tenor, The Arneis Quartet, and Yulia Yun, pianist, and composers, Andrea Clearfield, and Ronald Perera.
- Thank you to our Community Partners—who showed up to support us and who advocate for LGBTQ+ youth every day.
- Thank you to our volunteers and donors, commissioners, and sponsors who made the concert and the Letters Project possible with their gifts.
Enjoy these scenes from the concert. Sign up to get updates about a digital replay. And please consider supporting Coro Allegro, so we can continue to build bridges through extraordinary music that strengthen community.
Singers Conrad Mossl and Liz Carver, a new and a former board member, outside Old South Church
"Old South Church is now a venue extending the hand of friendship while advocating for “liberty, freedom of conscience and equality” for Boston’s LGBTQ+ community. The gesture comes at a time when over 300 state bills have been introduced or passed to remove protections for transgender and queer youth. In addition, it is a time when discussions about LGBTQ+ topics are beginning to be restricted in public schools. “Letters to Our Children,” which features the world premiere of “HERE I AM: I AM HERE” by American composer Andrea Clearfield, is based on poignant letters written by Mimi Lemay and Sam Brinton. Their words are set to beautiful, intricate music."
—Preview in JewishBoston, by Judith Bolton-Fasman
Artistic Director David Hodgkins conducts the world premiere of HERE I AM: I AM HERE by Andrea Clearfield.
...Coro Allegro has carved out its own special niche, not only for being a mixed chorus for LGBTQ+ folk and their allies but for its distinguished record of presenting world premieres, many commissioned by the chorus....Using these soul-baring stories to create a compelling musical narrative was no small assignment, particularly when the authors were also participating in the performance; Andrea Clearfield employed sensitivity and skill, resulting in a fine work that received thunderous acclaim."
—Review in the Boston Musical Intelligencer by Geoffrey Wieting
Top: Coro Allegro performs with the Arneis Quartet and Yulia Yun, piano; Bottom Left: Coro Allegro President Bonnie McFarlane presents the 14th Annual Daniel Pinkham Award to Sam Brinton for their work to end conversion therapy; Bottom Right: Composer Andrea Clearfield and David Hodgkins take a bow.
Guest Artists Jonas Budris, tenor, and Sonja Dutoit Tengblad, soprano, and the Arneis Quartet, with Andrea Clearfield.
To go with the concert, Coro Allegro hosted an LGBTQ+ Youth Resource Fair with community partners, an exhibit of the Letters Project, and tables where the audience wrote more postcards to LGBTQ+ youth.
Coro Allegro board member, Tom Jones, with letters submitted to The Letters Project. Click below to add your voice and submit your own affirming open message today!
