‘Aiming high’ for Classical Pride: Oliver Zeffman [Sebastian Nevols]

FOR years the gay community has struggled with the cultural stereotypes imposed on it. And one of them was that to be gay means you spend your life in discos, dancing to an ear-destroying beat, with little interest in Schubert, Handel or their worlds.

It isn’t true. It never was. And what IS true is that over the centuries classical music has not only been cherished by gay people, it’s been made by them. Tchaikovsky, Britten, Bernstein, Copland, Poulenc, Lully… possibly Schubert and Handel too: a long list. And three years ago the entrepreneurial young conductor Oliver Zeffman decided it was time for Pride Week to take note.

The result was Classical Pride. And year by year it’s grown, to a scale that now has events running June 27-July 10, and culminates in a gala with the London Symphony Orchestra. Things start at Wigmore Hall on June 27 with the Fourth Choir singing works by Hildegard of Bingen (whose sexuality is uncertain but, hey, she was a nun) through to Meredith Monk. At Kings Place on 29th, Manchester Camerata play Copland and Poulenc. At Wilton’s Music Hall, July 1, there’s a cantata about Joan of Arc by Julius Eastman. July 4 at the Barbican there are songs by Stephen Hough and Reynaldo Hahn. And the same day brings the big LSO gala, conducted by Zeffman and featuring the eminent choir Tenebrae with larger-than-life mezzo Jamie Barton in works that include a premiere from leading American opera composer Jake Heggie.

“Important to it all”, says Zeffman, “is that we don’t dumb down. We aim high. But at the same time we attract audiences you don’t always see at classical concerts. They’re younger than usual; the atmosphere is electric; and everyone has a great night.”

It’s something to experience, gay or otherwise. And soon after the Barbican gala, Zeffman flies out to repeat the whole thing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Hollywood Bowl. So long as Donald Trump doesn’t send in his stormtroopers (though of course they might enjoy it). Details: classicalpride.uk

• Also starting this week is the Spitalfields Festival which takes place in East London venues off the beaten concert track. Starting July 1 with choral music in Bishopsgate Institute; there’s a new operatic setting of Under Milk Wood at Metronome E1, July 2; and Jonathan Dove premiering his new sequence of contemplative piano works, Late Night Music, at St Giles Cripplegate, July 3 (bean-bags provided for comfortable listening). Looking ahead, cellist Raphael Wallfisch plays Tavener’s Protecting Veil, with dancers, at the Round Chapel, Hackney July 6. spitalfieldsmusic.org.uk

• The Royal Opera has a new production of Handel’s Semele June 30-July 10, done by its own company director Oliver Mears and already seen in Paris where it opened earlier this year to self-cancelling cheers and boos. It plays out like a 1960s Whitehall farce laced with disturbing images that stop things in their tracks and bring the story – of a woman flattered, seduced but then destroyed by the gods – uncomfortably close to modern experience. Whether or not you like the staging, it promises full-blooded singing from Pretty Yende, Alice Coote and Brindley Sherratt who all appeared in Paris. Christian Curnyn conducts. And Handel provides endless ear-worms. www.rbo.org.uk