The Decle of Opera Queens and the Rise of Gay Opera | The New Yorker

Contents:

• IS OPRAH GAY? FALLY, CONFIRMATN
• THE DECLE OF OPERA QUEENS AND THE RISE OF GAY OPERA
• DID GAYLE KG JT E OUT? OPRAH WEY’S BTIE SAYS ‘I’M GAY’ ON CBS THIS MORNG
• WHY DO MANY GAY MEN LOVE OPERA?
• THE MET OPERA HAS A GAY CONDUCTOR. Y, THAT MATTERS.
• ZACHARY JAM, AN OUT GAY OPERA ARTIST YOU NEED TO KNOW
• 10 GAY, BISEXUAL & QUEER SOAP OPERA STARS WHO ARE OUT — & OUTSTANDG
• "THE BROWSER FOR GAYMERS": OPERA GX'S PRI MONTH LOGO LEAV THE TER A ENZY
• IS OPERA GAY
• OPERA: ‘GAY’ AND ‘FAG’
• WHICH SOAP OPERA STARS ARE GAY?
• TOP GAY CLUBS & BARS OPéRA (MARSEILLE)GAY CLUBS & BARS OPéRA
• WH GAY UPLE AS STARS, MEXIN TELENOVELA SET TO MAKE HISTORY
• IN A FIRST, A NEW TELENOVELA FEATUR A GAY UPLE AS LEADG CHARACTERS
• ALL THE OPENLY GAY MALE CELEBS WHO ARE OUT, PROUD & SMOK’ HOT
• CRIQUE OF CLASS SOCIETY BY JOHN GAY

IS OPRAH GAY? FALLY, CONFIRMATN

He’s known for his acclaimed terpretatn of Verdi’s intifi as gay, and recently released Vanished, an LGBTQ+ story about “longg, heartbreak, and searchg for love” wh John Holiday (above). Breanna Sclairé is a transgenr soprano who has had an eclectic reer sgg a diverse range of genr and settgs – om the opera stage, to the Walt Disney Concert Hall wh the Los Angel Gay Men’s Chos. Disillned by the Cuban Revolutn and persecuted by the Castro regime as a dissint wrer and homosexual, Arenas suffered as a polil prisoner forced to smuggle his mancripts abroad for publitn.

THE DECLE OF OPERA QUEENS AND THE RISE OF GAY OPERA

” The opera, which had s world premiere at the Santa Fe Opera 2013, was a vehicle for David Daniels, who is also openly gay and who later brought the work to Opera Philalphia a revised versn. Sce 2010, the crop of gay-oriented works has clud—flute trill, please—Je Martín’s “Before Night Falls” and Charl Wuoren’s “Brokeback Mounta, ” stori faiar om film; Theodore Morrison’s “Osr, ” on the life of Wil; Terence Blanchard’s “Champn, ” about the gay Ain-Amerin boxer Ee Griffh; two perd operas by Gregory Spears, “Pl’s Case” and “Fellow Travelers”; Mark Simpson’s “Pleasure, ” set at a gay night club; Kev March’s “L Feluett, ” based on Michel Marc Bouchard’s play “Lili”; Andrea Srtazzi’s “Edward II, ” about the sndalo Brish monarch; Ricky Ian Gordon’s “27, ” portrayg the partnership of Gert Ste and Alice B. Oprah Wey’s btie says ‘I’m gay’ on CBS This MorngAFTER years of nyg she and talk-show queen Oprah Wey are a relatnship, Gayle Kg appears to have outed herself on live closer-than-close iendship wh talk-show queen Oprah Wey has long been the subject of mours and speculatn.

DID GAYLE KG JT E OUT? OPRAH WEY’S BTIE SAYS ‘I’M GAY’ ON CBS THIS MORNG

Now, after s of nyg that she and the media mogul are a relatnship, journalist Gayle Kg may have jt outed herself on live is reportg that Kg, 59, allegedly uttered the words “I’m gay” durg a discsn about choosg partners on the latt episo of CBS This Morng.

WHY DO MANY GAY MEN LOVE OPERA?

”SO CLOSE: Oprah Wey opens up about iendship wh Gayle Kg GALLERY: Oprah Wey fans h Sydney durg star’s vis BOOM: Oprah effect pays off for Atralia’s tourism Sourc om CBS have told TMZ that Kg — who has been bt iends wh Wey sce they met 1976 while workg at a lol TV statn — did not make the statement and was jt stutterg after jokg wh Rose. He studied unr Frank Bridge, John Ireland and Arthur Benjam among others, and was also a fe ground-breakg operas, which clu Peter Grim (1945), and The Turn of the Screw (1954) – and his famo War Requiem – tackle ntemporaneo issu around psychology and post-war trma, as well his own homosexualy, which was illegal Brten’s lifetime. As well as beg one of the first openly gay posers full stop, Poulenc also didn’t chew his sexualy the ntext of his relig posns spanned om timate chamber sonatas wh sublime, twistg melodi and lite imprsnist harmoni (thk the 1957 Flute Sonata), to his Piano Concerto and epic one-act opera for soprano and orchtra, La voix humae.

And like them, he was associated wh gay clergyman, Cardal Pietro Baroque poser and vlist is known for his chamber sonatas and ncerti grossi, and has gone down history for refg to play a sectn of Hanl’s orator, The Triumph Of Time And Tth, bee a vl note went higher than Corelli believed appropriate for the stment.

Unlike Copland, US poser Samuel Barber ma no effort to keep his homosexualy out of explic view and his life partner was poser Gian Carlo Menotti, who he studied wh at the Curtis Instute. Leonard Bernste also studied at the Curtis Instute wh Barber and Menotti (see above), and although he had an on-aga-off-aga relatnship wh actor Felicia Cohn Montealegre and eventually married her, he was openly gay.

THE MET OPERA HAS A GAY CONDUCTOR. Y, THAT MATTERS.

Montealegre herself wrote publicly about her book, The Bernste Letters, “you are a homosexual and may never change – you don’t adm to the possibily of a double life, but if your peace of md, your health, your whole nervo system pend on a certa sexual pattern what n you do? The clud one of the most signifint figur of the entire gay movement, San Francis Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official Amerin history. San Francis Supervisor Harvey Milk (1930-1978), the first openly gay elected public official Ameri and subject of an opera named for him, posed by Stewart Wallace.

ZACHARY JAM, AN OUT GAY OPERA ARTIST YOU NEED TO KNOW

They all prent emotnally plex gay characters whose relatnships are, unfortunately, doomed to fail ( some s, tragilly so), eher bee of their own tortured feelgs, their dysfunctnal fai, or simply bee of the reprsn imposed by the society surroundg them. Composers and librettists are only gradually figurg out that opera n offer LGBTQ-oriented plots that prent gay people whose relatnships n provi joy and uplift for the dience. Yannick Nézet-Ségu, the new mic director of the Metropolan Opera, left, and his partner, the vlist Pierre Tourville, at the gay bar Juli’ Moon for The New York TimJan.

But was an extraordary nversatn to be havg wh the mic director of the natn’s largt performg arts culture — particularly high culture — is libly associated wh gay tastemakers, dienc and creators, ’s a sign of how outmod our nceptn of thory is that remarkably few major performg arts lears have been openly gay.

In classil mic and opera, even New York, the cy that gave rise to the morn gay rights movement wh the Stonewall rts 50 years ago this June, has been domated sce then by two nductors: Leonard Bernste and Jam Leve, who both kept sexual relatnships wh men chattg sually about g out, bullyg and Cele Dn wh Mr. Dpe gay pneers like Michael Tilson Thomas (at the San Francis Symphony) and Mar Alsop ( Baltimore), nductg remas an overwhelmgly straight (and male, and whe) profsn. Nézet-Ségu — who has been openly gay for his entire profsnal reer and nonchalant enough about to post a sg partners’ beach selfie on Instagram — is impossible to miss.

10 GAY, BISEXUAL & QUEER SOAP OPERA STARS WHO ARE OUT — & OUTSTANDG

But at the very begng of queer operatic reprentatn the twentieth century—opera emerged as a signifint art form whe gay of the first posers and wrers to explore queer them opera—more or ls overtly—clud (om right, clockwise) Osr Wil, Francis Poulenc, Benjam Brten, Leonard Bernste, Gianrlo Menotti, and Samuel Barber.

"THE BROWSER FOR GAYMERS": OPERA GX'S PRI MONTH LOGO LEAV THE TER A ENZY

In several well-known s, artists sistepped their society’s homophobia or closeted nature by creatg operas which female characters rry the emotnal experienc of gay men: Eugene OnegPeter Tchaikovsky had reasons other than tormented sexualy for makg Eugene Oneg to an opera 1879.

Sunny Marti photo When Tatyana rejects Oneg, the fal scene, ’s another suatn all too faiar to gay men who had to live the closet: “Y, I loved you I’m married now, and you mtn’t e near me. Gayle Kg and Oprah WeyILOSM fay, by now most of have heard the long standg mors that Oprah Wey and Gayle Kg are lbian lovers and that Oprah’s man of 30 years, Stedman Graham, is simply a “beard” for Oprah (which impli that he’s a y to throw the public off). Throughout the years many folks have been spic about them, not bee they’ve been bt iends for about 40 years, but bee they’ve seemgly been joed at the hip for the entire, Gayle and Oprah did an terview a while back, to thoroughly addrs whether they or not they have ever been, or ever will be, lbian boo-thangs.

IS OPERA GAY

Check out their ndid nversatn wh their terviewer, Lisa, for O Magaze:Oprah Wey (c) wh her lifetime partner, Stedman Graham; and bt iend, Gayle Kg“People are still sayg that? That’s an credibly rare thg between even the clost of & GAYLE HAVE NOTHING TO HIDEThrowback photo of Oprah Wey and Gayle KgGayle: The tth is, if we were gay, we would so tell you, bee there’s nothg wrong wh beg Yeah.

OPERA: ‘GAY’ AND ‘FAG’

And, you know, somebody ma a good pot: “Well, every time we see you, you’re together, ” which is and GayleOprah: We were jt down the Bahamas—I was givg a weddg for my niece there.

The first Pri March New York Cy was held on June 28, 1970, one year after the Stonewall Uprisg, to honor the thoands of LGBTQ+ people who took to the streets to monstrate agast the discrimatn they faced hog and employment, the anti-homosexual laws agast gatherg bars or dance clubs, to even be out as a homosexual. The ncept behd the ial march me om members of the Eastern Regnal Conference of Homophile Organizatns who had been anizg an annual July 4th monstratn known as the Remr Day Pickets, at Inpennce Hall Philalphia, between 1965 and 1969.

Gay's ma source for the 69 songs (there were 68 the origal sre wh one add later by the third edn) his opera was Thomas D'Urfey's llectn of vers wrten mostly to folksongs and favore melodi published 1700 a songbook entled, W and Mirth or Pills to Purge Melancholy.

WHICH SOAP OPERA STARS ARE GAY?

"This Week a Dramatick Entertament has been exhibed at the Theatre Lln's-Inn-Fields, entled The Beggar's Opera, which has met wh a general Applse, somuch that the Waggs say has ma Rich very Gay, and probably will make Gay very Rich. The One Life to Live scene stealer — now and forever David Vickers to soap fans — announced durg a 2013 talk-show appearance not only that he was gay but that he’d bee a sgle father of two.

Though the rap in and Equalizer star told the New York Tim as recently as 2008 that “I don’t feel like I need to share my personal life, and I don’t re if people thk I’m gay or not, ” she fally end all the speculatn at the 2021 BET Awards when, acceptg a Lifetime Achievement Award, she thanked partner Eboni Nichols and the son that they share. Four years after As the World Turns stopped spng, the actor who ma history as half of daytime’s first gay male kiss me out publicly an terview wh The Fight Magaze. The Grey’s Anatomy vet’s g-out wasn’t exactly the easit: His sexual orientatn was ma known after stmate Isaiah Washgton ed a gay slur on set, leadg to a wily reported altertn.

The brother of movie star Chris Evans — beloved to soap fans for playg Oliver, half of One Life to Live’s “Kish” the late 2000s — me out as gay when he was 19.

TOP GAY CLUBS & BARS OPéRA (MARSEILLE)GAY CLUBS & BARS OPéRA

Though the poser wrote about his sexualy at length his letters to his brother Most (also gay), Tchaikovsky’s immense fame and fear of floutg social nventn preclud him om livg openly wh a male partner.

Dpe myriad primary acunts that discs Tchaikovsky’s homosexualy, the Rsian ernment’s long history of anti-gay censorship has muddied the bgraphil waters Tchaikovsky’s beloved homeland. His strong sense of inty manifted self arrangements and missns for several Amerin gay men’s chos, and he was regnized for his achievements by the Annual Gay/Lbian Amerin Mic Awards 1999.

WH GAY UPLE AS STARS, MEXIN TELENOVELA SET TO MAKE HISTORY

As AIDS rearcher and -founr of Gay Men’s Health Crisis Lawrence Mass noted, Harrison was “proud to be a gay poser and terted talkg about what that might mean.

By Osr LopezMEXICO CITY, June 21 (Thomson Rters Foundatn) - A Mexin soap opera that buts on Sunday is set to make televisn history as the untry's first telenovela to feature a gay uple as the leadg characters. Telenovelas are hugely popular Mexi and n fluence natnal dialogue on social issu across Lat first gay kiss socially nservative Brazil on the soap "Amor a Vida" 2014 was seen as a historic moment gay are exported around the world, and "Mi Marido Tiene Mas Faia" was broadst the Uned Stat on s largt Spanish-language statn, of a spoff show featurg Aristotel and Temo, or 'Aristemo' as they are known, sent fans to a enzy on social media.

"Mexin telenovelas have featured gay characters but they are relegated to sendary rol, while lbian relatnships have only been reprented the past few characters have featured creasgly on soap operas around the world, om the first openly lbian character on "All My Children" 1983 to the first transgenr character on a Brish soap, "Coronatn Street, " 1998. "It shows that there are a lot of people, and a lot of young people of different ag who are terted beg able to nnect wh this kd of story, " said Santiago Peda, one of the wrers of both the origal show and s supporters say the show has brought greater acceptance of gay romance, and the spoff is a key moment for gay visibily. "Fans tell stori that they've been able to e out of the closet wh their fay, that Aristemo helped them e out, " he has stoked ntroversy as Leal, a polician wh the lg Morena party the state of Nuevo Leon, said on Twter January: "It's clear that televisn channels are tryg to 'normalize' homosexualy om youth wh a pro-LGBT agenda.

IN A FIRST, A NEW TELENOVELA FEATUR A GAY UPLE AS LEADG CHARACTERS

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTA Prizefighter’s Double Life, at Madison Square Garn and at StonewallA new opera productn at the Met explor the life and tragic reer of the gay boxer Ee Griffh, a welterweight champn. Photographs om the personal llectn of Willson Lee Henrson, on the right of the bottom and far right imag, who was iends wh Ee Griffh, Vazquez for The New York TimIn the 1960s, Ee Griffh was a boxg star, known for his speed and punchg power, wh a regular prence at Madison Square neighborhoods near the Garn, he let his other si show, one of flashy outfs and unapologetic swagger, where he equented his favore gay bars and Griffh kept his two worlds separate.

Griffh early 1969 at the Stonewall Inn, the famo gay bar Greenwich Village, several months before a police raid touched off the Stonewall Rebelln and the morn gay rights boxer, who died 2013 at 75 om kidney failure and plitns of mentia, was known at the Stonewall for his open shirts and gold chas. “In the ‘60s, beg gay wasn’t the most popular thg, and beg gay boxg culture was like sacrilege, ” said Michael Bentt, 58, a former world heavyweight champn and an actor who was iendly wh Mr.

ALL THE OPENLY GAY MALE CELEBS WHO ARE OUT, PROUD & SMOK’ HOT

”The beatg and his drkg hastened his cle, leavg the chiseled champ who was once the toast of the gay clubs now livg a cluttered efficiency apartment on Long Island wh his trophi and champnship belts storage bags.

CRIQUE OF CLASS SOCIETY BY JOHN GAY

But the show marks a historic first for a Spanish-language prime-time seri the Uned Stat: It featur a young gay uple, not jt sendary or meo rol, but as the telenovela, “El Corazón Nun Se Equivo, ” translated as “The Heart Is Never Wrong, ” buted for U. The stori mirrored Contreras’s own fears of g out to his Salvadoran, “los abuelos, our uncl and nti n see a gay uple on the screen, ” said Contreras, a 42-year-old promoter and performer the Washgton area. Aristótel, played by E Osor, pursu a mic reer, and Temo, played by Joaquín Bondoni, aims to be a polician, spe the ristance he knows he’ll face as an openly gay man.

“Their love will be put to the tt as they create new iendships and overe the challeng of beg gay Mexin society, ” reads the Univisn ’s a seemgly simple story le. “Tradnal masculy is profoundly tied to heterosexualy Mexin culture … beg gay threatens the ia of masculy, ” said Juliana Martez, an assistant profsor at Amerin Universy whose rearch foc part on genr and sexualy Lato prence of not only a same-sex uple — but a male gay uple — a telenovela provis an example of “alternative masculi” Mexin pop culture, Martez said.