ChamberQUEER is a multifaceted organization with the mission of highlighting historically underrepresented queer figures in classical music and providing an intersectionally inclusive space within classical music for artists and audience through presenting and performing queer musicians and composers. ChamberQUEER curates adventurous programs and organizes committed performances of myriad queer artists from across the centuries. With a focus on building inclusive community spaces, CQ holds dedicated community events throughout each season, where queer artists and audiences alike can come together through music-making. ChamberQUEER was founded by Jules Biber, Danielle Buonaiuto, Brian Mummert, and Andrew Yee. 

Integral to CQ’s mission is the ChamberQUEER annual festival—two evenings in a concert hall featuring queer composers and performers bookending a community-centered event at Brooklyn queer bar and events space, Branded Saloon. In 2020, this festival moved online for a sixteen-day broadcast event and featured over 50 queer artists from around the world.

In addition to CQ’s flagship festival during Pride month, ChamberQUEER hosts community events throughout the year—from reading parties to house concerts, online events, happy hours, and our Instagram Live series, Chamber Chats. Under ChamberQUEER Presents… banner, ChamberQUEER works to co-produce and contract events to amplify queer artists and benefit charitable organizations.

ChamberQUEER has been presented by WQXR at the Greene Space; Death of Classical at Green-Wood Cemetery; Brooklyn Pride; Boulanger Initiative; and the Westerlies. Founding members have had appearances as ambassadors for ChamberQUEER at chamber music festivals, on podcasts and public radio broadcasts, and at residencies all over the country.

ChamberQUEER is looking forward to providing education and advocacy tools to uphold that mission in a greater variety of spaces, through residencies at educational institutions and through the building of a resource library for other presenting institutions and performing ensembles, which will be made freely available via its website. In the coming months CQ will work with Luna Lab—a composition program for young composers of marginalized genders—and Our Singing Bodies.

General Contact: Danielle Buonaiuto

Danielle@Chamberqueer.org

Chamberqueer.org

To us, Pride is more than a parade and a month of rainbows—Pride is the celebration of who we are, a reckoning between our vital futures and the hardships of the past. To make music as ChamberQUEER during Pride is an immense honor.

The vibrancy of the queer community is the backbone of ChamberQUEER’s work—we regularly host community events around the five boroughs, and at our regular home-away-from-home, Branded Saloon in Brooklyn.

We love bringing contemporary and new works into conversation with works from centuries ago—knowing that our liberation is tied up with all of those before us who struggled for a better future for queer folks. Sometimes, we’ll not know who was queer hundreds of years ago, but as we paint a picture of queerness now, we celebrate composers and artists from the canon who bring us joy, inspiration, and a passion for our community.

Read our interview with about ChamberQUEERantine in Classical Post!