AIDEN K. FELTKAMP | Discovery through Curation: NewMusicShelf’s Anthology for New Music for Trans and Nonbinary Voices
Aiden K. Feltkamp introduces their new Anthology for New Music for Trans and Nonbinary Voices, explaining the guiding principles of their creation and curation of this work.
The desire for a collection of songs for trans and nonbinary voices set up a tent in my brain years ago. At first, it was just a rented set of flimsy plastic rods and canvas, but over time, that desire put down more permanent roots – the tent transforming into a trailer, a cottage, a two-story house with good bones.
Curating NewMusicShelf’s Anthology of New Music for Trans and Nonbinary Voices did not disappoint. Not only were the submissions of music an embarrassment of riches, but I had the privilege to work alongside both NewMusicShelf and Turn the Spotlight to bring this idea into reality.
In all my research, I have not found an anthology specifically for transgender and nonbinary voices. It’s something that I’ve personally wanted, but it’s also a resource: for singers, for voice teachers, and for those programming vocal works.
As I curated, I had a few priorities in mind: variety, discovery, and instrumentation. For variety, I wanted to cover different themes, vocal ranges, and genres. Many songs and opera arias written for trans singers are about being trans. I wanted to include some of that, but I wanted to be sure that it wasn’t the entirety, or even the majority, of the anthology. For myself, I sometimes want a song that is about gender, but more often I want to sing about something else entirely. I’m more interested in what’s being written by our community, and by what’s being written for specific, and specifically, trans instruments.
Writing for trans and nonbinary voices naturally results in works in a variety of vocal ranges . Since the trans and/or nonbinary voice can have any range, I wanted to be sure that the songs in the anthology reflected that. And last, I wanted instrumentation, and not genre, to be the limiting factor in the anthology. If the piece was for solo voice and piano, I considered it. That led to the anthology spanning multiple genres, not only within “new music” but out into musical theater and singer-songwriter repertoire.
The element of discovery ties into its use as a programming tool. I wanted to find the composers working in this space and thinking critically about the trans/nonbinary voice as an instrument. I’m hoping that this anthology is the first steppingstone in a journey of research and listening. So while I included the works and composers who were important to the journeys of trans singers I know, I also was sure to include works by those outside my sphere of knowledge. It was beyond thrilling to meet these creators through their work and I’m honored to be able to include them in this collection.
This analysis of my process might sound abstract, or even dry, so rather than continuing with the theoretical, I’d love to introduce you to a few pieces in the anthology:
Yoshi Weinberg’s “Captain of My Soul” is the transcendent, emotional, and intimate art song that I’d always imagined being included in this anthology. I didn’t know Yoshi’s work until they submitted it to the anthology, but the first time I listened to this song, it cut right to my heart with its languid vocal line and tempestuous piano accompaniment. It’s exactly the type of song I can’t wait to program on a vocal recital.
“Chapel Hill Gets Lonely” is an aria from Leo Hurley and Charles Osborne’s opera, The Body Politic. I first met Leo Hurley at a League of American Orchestras National Conference where he spoke about the impact of his opera, which made national headlines because it was presented in 2016 at the North Carolina General Assembly in response to their transphobic bathroom bills. We spoke briefly after his presentation because I was interested about the casting of the lead trans role, and he explained to me how he’d rewritten the role, which had been premiered by countertenor Rodolfo Girón, for his friend, and a transmasculine singer, Samy Nour Younes Figaredo. The aria stands on its own, artfully pulling the audience into the character’s isolation, but I also wanted to include it as an important part of trans opera history.
Pax Ressler’s “Love Song for Me” came into the anthology in a more round-about way than most of the other repertoire. Pax submitted some of their classical work to the call for this anthology, but none of it met the piano-voice instrumentation guideline. I was intrigued by the colors they evoked with the orchestra and the way they explored the voice as its own instrument within that soundscape, so I went to their website to see what else they’d written. Lo and behold, they’d just released an entire pop album (Change). I listened, absolutely absorbed, and then reached out to Pax to see if they’d transcribe one of the songs for voice and piano so it could be included in the anthology. Luckily, they had an acoustic version of the album already, and that version is what’s included. I didn’t expect a classically-trained composer’s singer-songwriter work to be a part of this collection, but that’s one of the pleasant surprises of this project.
Thomas Yee’s “The Smoke Curls into the Sky” from Eva and the Angel of Death represents the part of the anthology that honors the collaborators and friends that I’ve made as a singer and librettist. Eva and the Angel of Death, an opera about Holocaust survivor Eva Mozes Kor, is Thomas’ brainchild that he graciously included me in bringing to life. Writing libretti has brought me so much joy, and this opera is no different. Like all the works in this anthology, this aria stands on its own merit: the winding, expressive vocal line over the stamping boots of the piano catapults the listener into a new realm with infinite time. We are all so lucky to be surrounded by so many talented creators, and this is just another example of that fact.
I’ll finish this the way I begin the anthology: I made this mixtape for you. I’m so excited for you to jump in.
September 6, 2021
