About

Hope Will Never Be Silent is a global recital series celebrating the voices of gay, lesbian, and trans composers, composers of color, and Jewish and women composers. Inspired by Harvey Milk’s call to action, each program is a tribute and an invitation to listen to stories too often silenced.

The flute is an instrument of breath, with sound born from the same element that sustains life and carries our voices. In Hope Will Never Be Silent, the flute becomes more than an instrument: it becomes a storyteller. Its voice is uniquely suited to carry the music of composers whose own voices have been marginalized or suppressed. Just as breath gives the flute its expressive life, it also breathes truth into the music of these composers, reminding us that expression is itself an act of resilience, and that hope continues to speak, even when silenced.

Videos

Gary Schocker’s Moonsterious unfolds like a tango whispered after midnight—shadowy, sensual, and shimmering with nocturnal color. In this new work, Schocker invites us into a world where mystery dances with moonlight, and the line between dream and desire blurs.

As an openly gay composer whose voice has shaped the contemporary flute landscape for decades, Schocker’s music resonates deeply within the mission of Hope Will Never Be Silent, a global recital series celebrating queer artistry, courage, and creative truth.

This performance is offered in honor of that legacy—of composers whose voices illuminate the night, and of all who keep hope alive through art.

Ned Rorem’s First Prayer for flute and piano unfolds like a confession whispered into the dark. It begins with a hush—an intimate murmur of longing—then rises toward a fervent, almost desperate plea, as if the very act of praying presses the heart to its limits. At the climax, the music seems to beg for understanding, for mercy, for release. And then, gently, it descends again. Flute and piano settle into a quiet unison, a single line of breath and resonance, as though the prayer has finally soothed the spirit that uttered it. Peace arrives not with triumph, but with stillness. Rorem, one of America’s most significant gay composers, brought extraordinary honesty and vulnerability to his music. This performance honors his legacy within the Hope Will Never Be Silent global recital series—lifting up queer voices whose truths continue to shape and strengthen our musical world.

Jake Heggie’s Soliloquy for flute and piano is a tender, melancholy ballad—music that seems to breathe with remembrance. Drawn from his oratorio Pieces of 9/11: Memories from Houston, the piece carries a quiet ache, as if holding the weight of stories too fragile to speak aloud. The flute sings with reflective sorrow, while the piano offers a steady pulse of compassion beneath it, creating a space where grief, memory, and hope coexist. Heggie—one of today’s most important American composers and a powerful gay artistic voice—writes with a humanity that resonates deeply within the mission of Hope Will Never Be Silent. This performance honors that spirit, lifting up music born from resilience, connection, and the courage to remember.

Robert Cart, flute Regina DiMedio Marrazza, piano live from the Van Vleck House

Benjamin Britten wrote some of the 20th century’s most remarkable music for his life partner, the great tenor Peter Pears. In this brief interview clip, when asked if the voice is a musical instrument, Britten echoes what generations of French flutists—Blavet, Devienne, Tulou, Taffanel, and of course Marcel Moyse—taught:

“All instruments, I think, really try at their height to imitate the human voice.”