Good Church Boys Do Not Become Artists

What is Good Church Boys Do Not Become Artists?

Told in three acts, the work is as hybrid as the performer behind it. Part memoir, part performance, and part recital, this monodrama explores the innate courage found in the full exploration of the self in a world designed to hide it from you. Good Church Boys Do Not Become Artists explores the marriage between words and song, calling up the question: what does it mean for a queer Black American classical singer to not just be an interpreter of music, but a creator of music and worlds, blurring the line between interpreter, creator, librettist, singer and composer into a complete whole? 

The idea of the singer-songwriter has often just been seen as a maker of folk and popular music, but many classical singers have made their mark on composition, libretto-writing and the co-creation of roles throughout time, such as baritone Emanuel Schikaneder, librettist for Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and the original Papageno, was also a noted dramatist, impresario and composer; Roland Hayes, Afro-American concert singer and composer of many Spirituals, Pauline Viardot, French mezzo-soprano and composer of several operas and many song cycles, and even more contemporary examples such as bass-baritone and composer, Damien Geter. 

Good Church Boys Do Not Become Artists is the second recital program of the Patricia Ellen Singing Artist Residency sponsored by Killer Queen Opera Company. 

This program will be followed by a light reception.

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Host or Publisher Killer Queen Opera Co.