A Love Letter to the Queer Community

This project features five 10-minute works from emerging QTPOC (Queer & Trans People of Color) composers who are students or alumni of Oberlin College & Conservatory. Entirely commissioned by the Poiesis Quartet, this impact-driven program aims to expand the string quartet canon with the artistic stories of diverse artists, centering the vast knowledge and approaches to music-making by the intersection of QTPOC that are too often unheard. According to the Institute for Composer Diversity’s 2024 Orchestra Repertoire Report, works by living Women and Nonbinary composers of color are only programmed 4.1% of the time. As such, this project presents an important opportunity for artists and audiences everywhere to challenge norms in classical music, and experience vibrant, engaging, and beautiful music from non-traditional perspectives.