Hes gay but classical music
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(His term, not ours).
How did the idea for classical pride come about? This mindset doesn’t help grow audiences, especially when many people lack personal connections to classical music.
Classical Pride creates a meaningful entry point by celebrating the LGBTQ+ community’s influence in classical music. Classical Pride is of course about celebrating the enormous contribution the LGBTQ+ community has made - and continues to make - to classical music, but, in doing so, it’s a way of bringing new, larger, younger, more diverse audiences into the concert hall.
I did something similar recently with the podcast The Rest Is History, which is one of the world’s biggest podcasts, with around 18 million downloads a month.
It seems really long overdue,” says Zeffman, pointing out that every corporation and industry has tapped into the commerciality of celebrating Pride apart from the classical music scene, which is “generally behind with the times by 10 to 15 years.”
The conductor’s program for “Classical Pride” is not just 19th-century string pieces, but modern-day features, too, from Jennifer Higdon’s “blue cathedral” about losing her brother in 1998 to George Benjamin’s “Dream of the Song,” Arlen’s “Over the Rainbow” and Bernstein’s “Overture to Candide.”
The show ends on a familiar classical note with Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake Suite.”
If Taylor Swift’s “The Eras” tour was a compilation of her musical evolution, then Zeffman’s “Classical Pride” is a collection of classical music’s best hits for newcomers and seasoned listeners.
The face of classical music is a changing one.
Lots of the top musicians today - particularly composers and conductors - for whatever reason happen to be gay men. Zeffman also hopes to attract a new, diverse audience to classical concerts.
It’s hardly an obscure list. What was the motivation?
Frankly, I’m not sure it’s a particularly unusual or out-there idea. It’s like being a director or soccer manager — all the work happens in rehearsals,” Zeffman says.
The role of the conductor on stage is to guide the orchestra and control the tempo of the music.
Meet the Man Making Classical Music Gay Again
Oliver Zeffman is everything you wouldn’t expect an orchestral conductor to be. On January 1st, 2024, TikToker emilybrawley1 posted it to describe her dog, gaining over 948,000 likes in five months (shown below, right). You can’t have it both ways. Ultimately, classical music is - and has been for a very long time - part of queer culture, and it's about time we celebrated this.
What are some of the highlights to look forward to this year?
2025 will be the third edition of Classical Pride.
There’s this attitude - and I’m perhaps exaggerating but only a little - of “We play great art and so if audiences don’t come, that’s their loss.” And whether that’s true or not, that’s of course not how you get in a new audience.
Life is not always an oratorio.
Meet the Man Who’s Making Classical Music Embrace Gay Culture Again
Oliver Zeffman is not your typical orchestral conductor.
Composers like Tchaikovsky, Britten, Barber, Poulenc, Copland, Bernstein, and contemporary figures such as Caroline Shaw and Thomas Adès, have all contributed immensely to classical music. “But classical music is also part of queer culture, and it deserves to be celebrated too.”
What highlights can audiences expect this year?
2025 marks the third edition of Classical Pride.
He was also part of a youth orchestra, which is how he got his start as a conductor by conducting his friends. Many attendees were new to classical music but became captivated by live performances. On February 9th, TikToker thetanglesystem posted a skit with the sound that gained over 485,000 likes in a similar timeframe (shown below, right).
One year later, the sound began to see common use with videos of pets.
Their cues can dictate whether something should be played aggressively or delicately.
Classical music’s rich history led Zeffman to studying history and Russian at Durham University. Many leading musicians and conductors today are gay men. Young, handsome, well dressed and devoid of excess ear hair (not to mention a good few decades of age), he’s the thoroughly modern face of classical music.
Zeffman’s pet project, Classical Pride, kicks off this week.
This year, the festival expands to multiple London venues including Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, Wilton’s Music Hall, and the Barbican. On stage he wears a formal suit as he waves his baton in the air — there’s no pomp of a tuxedo, tailcoat or waistcoat as seen in the film “Tár” where Cate Blanchett plays a world-renowned conductor.
The 32-year-old conductor is also injecting some fun into the seriousness of classical music.
At the Hollywood Bowl, drag performer Thorgy Thor from season eight of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” will take the stage to play the violin.
Since setting up “Classical Pride” in 2023, Zeffman has been treating it like a crossover between a film festival and concert.
Lots of companies have been accused in recent years of ‘pinkwashing’ but now, with the roll-back of DEI initiatives in the US and lots of companies dialling back their support for Pride, they’ve been accused of abandoning the LGBTQ+ community.