Our Mission
We are an LGBTQ vocal ensemble celebrating our musical heritage and future through thoughtful programming, public engagement, and local artistic collaborations.
Making space
At a glance, Quorum Boston is an auditioned chamber choir of 20 singers. We perform classical music, from the medieval era through new works.
However, in addition to being a musical ensemble, Quorum Boston serves as a gathering of LGBTQ musicians in the city of Boston. The queer experience is one in which community plays a uniquely vital role. Creative initiatives will be member-lead, and this flexibility will allow the ensemble to evolve to suit the needs of the community. Quorum Boston will thereby create a space for dialogue, music, scholarship, and art to flourish in this great city.
Reclaiming our time
Each concert will feature music by queer composers, drawing from over 1000 years of musical heritage. As a queer ensemble programming works from this specific group of composers, we bring attention to that aspect of their creative lives. The erasure of “queerness” from canonical artists because of ignorance, malice, or some misplaced sense of propriety (Smyth, Tchaikovsky, Lully, etc.) is deeply unfortunate and can only be corrected through education and discussion. A more complete understanding of the lives and works of these composers benefits the entire public, not just the LGBTQ community.
Joining forces
Critical to our mission is our Composer in Residence program. Works from living composers will celebrate their contributions to the choral and new music scenes, amplifying the great art that they are creating. We invite Composers in Residence into our rehearsals to teach us about their art, and ask their input on determining the programming and creative tone of the concert in which their work is performed. Pending future funding, Quorum Boston will have a yearly commissioned work, thus supporting LGBTQ artists and incentivising the creation of new music.
Quorum Boston seeks to be a nexus of art and scholarship, two of Boston's most plentiful resources. To accomplish this, we will partner with musicologists from some of Boston's many premiere music schools and programs for pre-concert lectures, with living composers for interviews and workshops, and with local artists for multi-media collaborations (concert programming inspired by artwork, sound-installations, dance works, etc).