Date: Wed, 11 Jan 1995 16:01:15 -0500 From: David B. O'Donnell To: Multiple recipients of list GLB-NEWS Subject: gay, hiv+ classical music composer [ Send all responses to ATHONK@DELPHI.COM only. Any responses to the list or list-owners will be returned to you. ] The following is reprinted from XENOGENY Nashville, a weekly newspaper for gay/lesbian/bisexual community in Nashville, TN. Work by HIV-positive, openly gay composer to be performed by Nashville Symphony by Kenneth Athon The Nashville Symphony will perform a work by Nashville composer Lee Gannon, January 20-21 at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. This will mark the first time the Symphony has commissioned a work from an openly-gay composer. Gannon, who is HIV-positive, composed 'Peste Noire' for narrator and orchestra, to portray the bubonic plague. "The piece attempts to draw parallels between the past and present, particularly in reference to the AIDS pandemic," Gannon said. For the narration, he chose historic fourteenth century writings about the plague. Each writing describes attributes of the time, giving clear accounts of how people reacted to the disease. "Some lived to excess, some shut themselves up and others simply tried to escape. Nuns cared for the sick, doctors tried to live up to their commitments of preserving life, and poets and philosophers attempted to put the suffering into perspective," he aid. Tickets for the concerts are available through TicketMaster. end Note to internet readers: Gannon can be reached c/o XENOGENY Nashville, P O Box 60716, Nashville, TN 37206-0716. Email addressed to ATHONK@delphi.com WILL be forwarded also.