In the News: Broad Street Review pens an appreciation for Philly’s Transcendent Choir
The ensemble, which welcomes trans, nonbinary, and gender-expansive singers, performed as part of two ArtPhilly commissions.
Broad Street Review profiled with groundbreaking choir, which performed as part of Sail Through This to That and Long Live the Queen, both What Now: 2026 projects.
It took me 12 measures of “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” to realize that every singer in Transcendent Choir of Philadelphia was wearing a cardigan.
That was the sole gesture of conformity in this community choir for people who are trans, non-binary, or gender-expansive. And when the singers shed their cardigans after that opening number in an April concert at University Lutheran Church, it was clear that this was not a traditional choir, where sections typically cleave not just by vocal register but by gender.
In Transcendent, a long-haired singer in a dress might be carrying the bass line. Someone else may perform in beard and ball gown. And a 20-something who thought his singing days were over has found his place amidst the tenors.
Read the whole story HERE.
Image of Sail Through This to That via REC Philly.