The Queer Big Apple Corps: All Around The World

ALL AROUND THE WORLD

The Music of Home, Wherever That May Be

Henco Espag, Artistic Director, Queer Big Apple Corps Symphonic Band

Royden Ringer, Assistant Conductor

Jason Cannon, Executive Director

This holiday season, the Queer Big Apple Corps Symphonic Band returns to Peter Norton Symphony Space, bringing a celebration of traditions and the warmth of home from all over the world. With luscious music from Alaska to Appalachia, Peru to Nigeria, Japan to Eastern Europe, this concert will inspire heartfelt memories and dreams of home, no matter where yours may be.

This event is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

ABOUT US

Since its formation in 1979, the Queer Big Apple Corps has represented the entire LGBTQIA+ community and brought “The Sound of Love & Joy” to audiences across the United States and Canada. The Queer Big Apple Corps Symphonic Band has played Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher and Alice Tully halls, and made its Carnegie Hall debut in 2009, the band’s 30th anniversary year. Over four decades, the band has shared the stage with such luminaries as Harvey Fierstein, Rita Moreno, Liz Calloway, Arthur Laurents, and Liz Smith. Not only has the band performed with the famous, it has performed for the famous: Kathy Najimy, Tony Shalhoub, Annette Bening, and Sutton Foster. A founding member of the Pride Bands Alliance, the Queer Big Apple Corps also performed with the Pride Bands Alliance massed band in both Inaugural Parades for Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

Chosen to perform in the 2022 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Queer Big Apple Corps Marching Band has received countless coveted “best band” awards in parades large and small from coast to coast. The band has been seen by millions of people around the world in the 2020 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day broadcast, two Ticker Tape parades, in Pride Night half-time shows for the Brooklyn Nets and NY Knicks and on the field for the NY Mets, and in 15-20 parades and street performances each year.

With more than 250 musicians, color guard, and band aides, the Queer Big Apple Corps proudly celebrated its 45th anniversary this fall, and plans on lifting the hearts of audiences in concert halls and on parade routes for decades to come.