Equality should be celebrated every day and Donne's main goal is to AMPLIFY all the voices.
We would like to invite you to listen to these amazing LGTBQI+ composers during June, the PRIDE MONTH! And don't forget to share.
Do you have any other names to suggest? We would love to make a part three of this list! Let us know!
And happy listening!
BILLIE HOLIDAY - USA
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and composer well known in the history of music. Her voice, influenced by jazz, was a pioneer in manipulating time. She also was known for her vocal delivery and improvisation skills.
According to several sources, Billie was bisexual and had a few relationships with some women.
According to several sources, Billie was bisexual and had a few relationships with some women.
Listen to her here:
MEREDITH MONK - USA
Meredith Monk is an American composer, performer, director, vocalist, filmmaker, and choreographer.
She is well known for her innovations using voice and has influenced several artists during her immense career. Her songs were also used in several movies, like The Big Lebowski and she was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama.
Listen to her here:
MARIA ELENA WALSH - ARGENTINA
Maria Elena Walsh was an Argentine poet, novelist, musician, playwright, writer, and composer. Her work was mostly written for children and her songs are remembered by several generations.
Her work is compared, in Argentina, with Lewis Carrol. She won several prizes and honors during her career. Her work was political and she was a fierce opponent of the Military Dictatorship in her country.
She was married from 1978 until her death with the photographer Sara Facio.
Listen to her here:
LAURA KARPMAN - USA
Laura Karpman is an American composer who has won four Emmy Awards for her work. She already composed for film, television, video games, theater, and the concert hall.
In 2014, Karpman co-founded the Alliance for Women Film Composers with Lolita Ritmanis and Miriam Cutler. The organization provides visibility and advocacy for women composers.
Laura is married to the composer Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum and they have a son.
Listen to her here:
ANNEA LOCKWOOD - NEW ZEALAND
Annea Lockwood is a New Zealand-born composer that works mostly with found sounds. Her work is modern and experimental: from the microtonal, electro-acoustic soundscapes and vocal music, she seems to have explored and expressed previously ignored spaces in modern composition.
Listen to her here:
SALLY WHITWELL - AUSTRALIA
Sally Whitwell is an Australian classical musician, pianist, composer, arranger, conductor, and teacher. Sara has released four solo albums so far. She won several prizes in her career, including the ARIA Music Awards of 2011 and 2013.
She and her partner, Glennda Blyth (a visual artist) ran a multi-art space in Sydney, The Sal-On, for lesbian artists.
Listen to her here:
NATALIA ZUCKERMAN - AUSTRALIA
Natalia Zukerman is an American artist and musician raised in NYC. Her music is a mix of blues, jazz, bluegrass, and folk.
She plays a variety of guitars including acoustic, electric, slide guitar, dobro, lap steel guitar, and banjo, but primarily focuses on her Goodall acoustic guitar. Along with her work as singer, songwriter, and guitarist, Zukerman is also an accomplished artist specializing in large format drawings and murals.
She is openly lesbian.
Listen to her here:
MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO - USA
Meshell Ndegeocello (Michelle Lynn Johnson) is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, and bassist.
Her music has several influences, that include funk, soul, jazz, hip hop, reggae, and rock. She was nominated ten times to the Grammy Awards and has been credited for helping "spark the neo-soul movement".
She is bisexual and married to the actress Alison Riley and they both have a son.
Listen to her here:
LESLEY BARBER - CANADA
Lesley Barber is a Canadian composer who has worked for several movies, films, TV shows, and projects. A multi-instrumentalist, conductor, and pianist, Lesley’s interest in modern electronic programming, loops, and effects adds dimension to her work, creating hybrid atmospheric scores with lush orchestration with an innate ability to bring the essential to light and avoid the cliché.
She is married to the director Patricia Rozema and they have two children.
Listen to her here:
LAURA JANE GRACE - USA
Laura Jane Grace is an American musician best known as the founder, lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist of the punk rock band Against Me!
Grace is notable for being one of the first highly visible punk rock musicians to come out as transgender, after she publicly came out in May 2012.
She has a daughter with her ex-wife Heather Hannoura, a visual artist.
Listen to her here:
YFAT ZISSO - UK
Yfat Zisso is an English composer and soprano. Her interests range from the use of different microtonal soundworlds and textures to children’s books and the exploration of various extended techniques.
She is also a soprano, specializing in contemporary repertoire, as a soloist and choral singer.
Yfat is openly lesbian.
Listen to her here:
ANGEL HAZE - USA
Angel Haze is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. She started her career putting songs online for free from 2009 to 2012 and released her first album in 2013
Haze is pansexual and agender. She has said: "People talking about me, like, ‘I'm glad there's an actual woman of color representing queerness and pansexuality, someone who is like me in the spotlight.’".
Listen to her here:
RUTH ANDERSON - USA
Ruth Anderson was an American composer, orchestrator, teacher, and flutist. She worked with orchestral and electronic music. She studied composition with Darius Milhaud and Nadia Boulanger in Paris.
Listen do her here:
LISA COLEMAN - USA
Lisa Coleman is an American pianist and composer. She was a member of Prince's backing band The Revolution from 1980 to 1986. She is also one half of the musical duo Wendy & Lisa, formed with Wendy Melvoin in 1986.
In 2009, she declared herself a lesbian to the Out magazine. She is married since 2004 to Renata Kanclerz and they have one child together.
Listen do her here:
DANI ROBISON - USA
Dani Robison is an American artist, bassist, and composer, and has recorded and released three albums. She is a queer trans woman and declares herself also a witch.
She performed her work also in the video, performance art, fashion design, tattoo, puppetry, and animation.
Listen to her here:
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