FELIX GRAHAM, ED.D.C.T.
UP-COMING
The Passion of Miss de Marco, Unemployed Stenographer is an interdisciplinary theater work, incorporating elements from opera, musical theater, oratorio, dance, straight play and fine art to tell the story of a young, queer woman in 1930s New York and her brush with media fame before her untimely death.
Structured as a queer lives-of-the-saints style play, Norma is a reflection on how well we can ever truly know a historical figure from outside sources, and questions what we actually know about queer icons from the past and their lives.
ARTIST BIO
Felix Graham, ED.D.C.T., is an NYC-based musician, writer and teaching artist whose practice explores the juxtaposition of voice, gender & identity. He has had two careers as a performer: initially as a classical singer & pianist, then post-transition branching into cabaret/queer musical theatre, which included a role in Decadence, where he was the first openly trans-masculine singer to perform at the Friar’s Club.
As a composer/director, his work examines singing as performance art, exploring the sonic & emotional shift of the western canon when performed by GNC voices/ensembles. His first large-scale composition, Stations of the Lost: A Trans Requiem, was written as a subversion of the traditional liturgical memorial, using the gnostic poetry of the gender-bending occultist Alastair Crowley – the “wickedest man on earth.” Dr. Graham is currently in residence at The Flea (NYC), where his new work, The Passion of Miss de Marco, Unemployed Stenographer, explores historic queer narratives and the role of media in our understanding of queer icons.
As a teaching artist, Dr, Graham works with trans/GNC singers and gives workshops nationally on trans voice, music & identity, and creating secure musical learning spaces for marginalized communities. He is currently the artistic director of TRANScend & founder of TRANScend Choral & Community Music Foundation – a non-profit dedicated to gender-inclusive music and music education in New York City.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My work as an artist can be roughly categorized as Before Transition and After Transition. Before Transition was escapism – dysphoric sublimation through the performance of highly-stylized gender roles in opera and classical music. After Transition has been deconstructing gender and voice and allowing myself the freedom to put my deepest feelings about (and rebellion against) gender into physical form. I work in multiple complementary disciplines, all of which examine the intersection of singing, gender, and identity. The underlying premise of all my artistic output, regardless of the medium, is inserting non-conforming voices into places society has decided we don’t belong.
Performance: Quando corpus morietur, from Rossini’s Stabat Mater
Composition: Tantum Ergo - Communion Anthem (2022) — sung by TRANScend at St. John’s in the Village