Intrepid Theatre

A special kick-off event for OUTstages. A co-presentation with The Farquhar Auditorium at UVic.

Earlybird tickets on sale at 9:30am Thursday November 10.

“A superb pop ensemble.”  -NOW Magazine

“An act of masterful remembering.” – Exclaim

The QSO return to Victoria for a special one-night only event, after a sold-out show at OUTstages Festival 2018!

The Queer Songbook Orchestra (QSO) are a Toronto based 13-piece chamber pop ensemble, dedicated to exploring and uplifting 2SLGBTQ+ narrative in pop music. With the queer lens intact, they look through the last century of popular music and bring forward obscured 2SLGBTQ+ historical narratives, alongside the personal reflections from members of the community. By working with a base of known songs that are uniquely reimagined for the ensemble, the listener is offered new points of entry into familiar works and a broader perspective on the universality of human experience. A highly collaborative project, the QSO incorporate members of the local community to participate in every performance. From high school students to elders, and from well-known artists to novice performers, individuals are invited on stage to co-present these narratives, and to foster dialogue and nurture deepening community.

About the artists:

The Queer Songbook Orchestra (QSO) are a Toronto based 13-piece chamber pop ensemble, dedicated to exploring and uplifting 2SLGBTQ+ narrative in pop music. The QSO have been steadily working to bring intimacy and vulnerability to stages across Canada since the project was founded in 2014 by Artistic Director Shaun Brodie. By working with a base of familiar songs, drawn from pop music of the last century which is reinterpreted and offered alongside their accompanying narratives, the listener is allowed a new entry point into familiar works, and a peek inside the elusive nature of song and the pockets of memory where they tuck away.

The QSO are made up of many of the finest musicians in Canada from across the classical, pop and jazz spectrum; they have performed all across Canada and been featured at many of the country’s top performing arts festivals. The QSO have played venues ranging from the National Arts Centre to the St. John’s Farmers Market, with innumerable stops in between. They are a highly collaborative ensemble and have worked with nearly 200 guest artists and arrangers, including Beverly Glenn Copeland, Cris Derksen, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Carole Pope, Owen Pallett, Orville Peck, Allie X, and many others, including high school students and elders from all across Canada.

The QSO have released three albums to date; the 2017 collaborative album with Vivek Shraya, Part-Time Woman (Long Listed for the Polaris Music Prize); the 2018 solo debut, Anthems & Icons; and the 2019 collaborative EP with Christine Bougie, Love Songs. The QSO produced a short stop-motion animated film, Reach the Sky, which is now available online, and has played festivals all around the world, including screenings in Japan, Belgium, Spain, the UK, Russia, Mexico and across the US and Canada.

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This performance is funded by the Government of Canada. This performance is sponsored by Hotel Rialto