Singing their way through the new year, Tone Cluster – quite a queer choir, is coming together alongside guest performer Ryan Vis to celebrate queer art and identities in its first concert of 2023, Cold & Bright, which will be held Jan. 28 at 2 p.m. at First Baptist Church in Ottawa.
Tone Cluster is Ottawa’s only all-gender, all voices LGBT+ choir. Celebrating intersectionality and community, the choir has been around for almost 30 years and has always been dedicated to the LGBT+ community and its allies.
“[Tone Cluster] is a musical term for a chord where all the notes are right beside each other,” artistic director Deidre Kellerman said, adding the term embraces diversity and individual experiences since many different notes come together to form something beautiful.
In her role, Kellerman creates colourful repertoires, prioritizing themes of intersectionality, social justice and human rights.
Kellerman is also a musicologist who researches a diverse collection of music and composers including queer composers, trans composers, composers of colour and “historically those composers who have not been published far and wide,” she said.
Much of Tone Cluster’s success is attributed to creating music and communities where people feel welcomed and understood.
“Being queer in a queer choir is about taking up space,” said Cordon Purcell, a Tone Cluster choir member since 2017.
Kellerman also seeks out opportunities to give younger musicians, especially students, paid, professional opportunities in the music industry.
Vis, Tone Cluster’s upcoming guest performer, is a queer violist currently enrolled in the master of music performance program at the University of Ottawa and is an associate performer for the Ottawa and Gatineau symphonies. He has been working closely with Kellerman since late 2022.
Vis said they’ve been plugging away at “blending the sound of the choir” ahead of the upcoming performance.
Chorister Jaime Sadgrove said they aim to redefine musical theatre and singing, which they said are traditionally very gendered.
“[Being queer and non-binary are] a combination of who I am and how I describe my gender,” they said.
In Tone Cluster, Sadgrove added they aim to use music to foster an inclusive space for everyone.
“Queerness is belonging to a community and moving through the world in a way that is supportive of marginalized people,” they said.
Tone Cluster also organizes different fundraising opportunities. Proceeds from Cold & Bright, as well as donations, will go to Capital Rainbow Refuge, a non-profit organization that provides support for queer refugees in Canada.
They will also be using their platform during their performance to discuss the war in Ukraine, and will be singing a Ukrainian song about peace.
Tone Cluster has made the decision to remove Tchaikovsky, one of the best-known queer composers, from their set list, after an announcement from the Ukrainian culture minister asked the Western world to boycott Russian artists until Russia’s war in Ukraine ends.
“We will talk about it in the concert and talk about the complications and differences of intersectionalities and allyship,” Colum Grove-White, chair of the Tone Cluster board, said.
Vis added that cutting Tchaikovsky and being cognizant of the ongoing war is part of how they can help Ukrainians heal.
Another piece of Tone Cluster’s intersectional philosophy is recognizing the impacts of religion.
“The reality in Ottawa is that there are not a lot of secular, non-religious spaces. Ones available are out of the price range for a choir of this size,” Kellerman said, adding churches are often the best fit.
The vetting process includes verifying their values are aligned with those of the venue, and ensuring the space is easily accessible.
Grove-White said the choir hung Pride flags in one of the churches they performed in.
“We made that space our own,” he said, adding that many members of the choir are religious or come from religious backgrounds. “For those members, it would be great to celebrate their identity in religious institutions.”
Purcell and other Tone Cluster members are excited to share their artistic talents during their upcoming performance at First Baptist Church.
“[It’s] the prettiest concert since I’ve joined the choir—the music specifically and the poetry,” Purcell teased. “I’m not a huge fan of winter, so this makes me like it a little bit more.”
“If it’s something others can resonate with, then I’m happy,” Vis added.
Tickets can be purchased here.
Feature image by Jennifer Scrivens.
