A Gay Night At The Oregon Symphony

Before there was house music, disco or showtunes, the gays had classical music. With all those ruffles, short-pants, and powdered wigs, what's gayer than classical music? It's all the boys had before Donna Summer.

Not only is classical/orchestral music so gay, several of the world's top modern composers were also! And the Oregon Symphony in Portland is performing an evening of three queer composers this weekend--Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky, Samuel Barber and Leonard Bernstein. The evening's program is called Voices of the Spirit.

The symphony's conductor Carlos Kalimar (not gay) told the Williamette Week, says "we didn't think about that when we created the program."

Maybe not. There aren't any references to this being the theme of the evening in the program notes. But there are a few words about the ongoing controversy surrounding Tchaikovsky's death in 1893, noting,

"His brother and biographer Modest claimed Tchaikovsky died from cholera contracted after drinking unboiled water; others claim he committed suicide to avoid the publicity of his advances to a male student. There is no clear evidence one way or the other, and the debate will no doubt continue."

Other gay composers throughout history include Merce Cunningham, Billy Strayhorn, Jean-Baptiste Lully, and Aaron Copeland.