Musical Direction

Rainbow Symphony Cologne isolated recording project

During the Corona lockdown of March-April 2020, Rainbow Symphony Cologne began looking for new ways to make music together. We chose the popular Cologne song “Unsere Stammbaum,” which I arranged for orchestra. Then we recorded the various parts (separately), mixed and engineered and edited the results to produce a video that was released on April 26, the day of our cancelled concert. Check it out!

Our friends from Atlanta Philharmonic Orchestra sent a representative to Cologne to interview me as part of an outreach effort to network LGBTQ-friendly orchestras. Ted Sladovich got me talking about the history of the orchestra, my own history, and some amusing mishaps.

Various Voices Dublin 2014 – Artistic Director, Various Voices LGBT choir festival “Arise and Sing!”

Various Voices was four days of music and celebration, a big gay ceili, 37 hours of choir performances by 77 choirs from 19 countries, 2500 participants, 12 hours of gala shows featuring six of Ireland’s most famous and successful musicians, three Eurovision winners and a punk rock icon, 28 hours of workshops, one symphonic orchestra, world premieres of three new pieces (including my festival anthem, sung in English and Russian), and the Ireland premiere of the first symphony ever written by an American woman…

Various Voices won a GALA (Ireland’s LGBT awards) as “Event of the Year.” Winners were announced on March 6, 2015.

Gay Games VIII Cologne 2010

As a member of the committee responsible for public events, I functioned as the musical director of this week-long sports and cultural festival with 20,000 participants. Organization and production of international choirs, orchestra and bands for the opening ceremonies and gala concert, musical coaching and accompaniment of singers, musical arrangements for band, choir and orchestra.