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DECORAH — "Glitter and be gay," the phrase immortalized by the character Cunégonde in Leonard Bernstein and Richard Wilbur's operetta Candide, was brought to life by the dazzling queerPOPERA, a pop-up opera company that performed at a packed Impact Coffee on Saturday, October 12, as part of Decorah Pride's festivities. From Donizetti to Puccini, queerPOPERA—a group dedicated to embracing and celebrating the full spectrum of gender identities and sexual orientations— filled Impact's space with the range of emotion that only opera can elicit. The evening began with a performance of the aforementioned Bernstein coloratura by soprano and founder of queerPOPERA, Jaimie Webb. Nicholas Shaneyfelt accompanied Webb and the other performers on piano throughout the event. "As a professional opera singer and queer woman, I have felt a deep need for more queer, operatic stories, so I decided to found queerPOPERA," Webb wrote in her bio for the event, "I believe storytelling is one of the greatest ways to create positive change. Because opera is such a grand and intimate artform, I want to use this medium to provide more queer representation and empower positive change for LGBTQ+ rights. Sometimes just hearing someone's story—truly hearing and feeling it—can lead to more love, joy, and kindness. I have seen and experienced firsthand the power that storytelling can have on saving a life. I want to allow more opportunities for those stories to be shared, especially here in the Midwest. " List of Performances Cinque…dieci… venti from Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro" Performed by Aidan Spencer and Marie Sauze Seit ich ihn gesehen from Schumann's "Frauenliebe und -Leben" (A Woman's Life and Love) Performed by Carla Hanson Appressati Lucia… from Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" Performed by Andrew Whitfield and Jaime Webb Pourquoi me réveiller from Massenet's "Werther" Performed by Erin Daniel Quando m'en vo from Puccini's "La Bohème" Performed by Sasha Tomasevich Vissi d'arte from Puccini's "Tosca" Performed by Olivia Luster Pur ti miro from Monteverdi's "L'incoronazione di Poppea" Performed by Marie Sauze and Aidan Spencer La donna è mobile from Verdi's "Rigoletto" Performed by Arin Kyllo Qui la voce from Bellini's "I puritani" Performed by Ava Shively I Attempt from Love's (Men's) Sickness to Fly by Purcell with text changes by Malaika Hale and Dr. Clelyn Chapin, University of Northern Colorado Performed by Malaika Hale Kommt ein schlanker Bursch gegangen from Weber's "Der Freischütz" With text changes by Jaime Bizarri Performed by Jaime Bizarri Fra gli amplessi from Mozart's "Così fan tutte" Performed by Erin Daniel and Sasha Tomasevich È strano.. Ah, fors'è lui…Sempre libera from Verdi's "La Traviata" Performed by Jaime Webb, Adrianna Tam, Jana Lundell, and Camille Balleza Vecchia zimarra senti… from Puccini's "La Bohème" Performed by Carla Hanson Bring Him Home from Schönberg's "Les Misérables" Performed by Arin Kyllo Agony from Sondheim's "Into the Woods" Performed by Andrew Last and Andrew Whitfield The evening concluded with a soaring rendition of "Make Our Garden Grow," also from Bernstein's Candide, performed by Rachel Storlie, Jaime Webb, the queerPOPERA Ensemble, and The Quire, a not-for-profit chorus for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender virtuosos, created with the goal of promoting a positive image of these communities through excellence in choral music. To learn more about queerPOPERA, visit their website at www.queerpopera.org Never a dull moment! Subscribe to the free DecorahNews.com newsletter and stay one step ahead with local news and information you just can't get anywhere else.

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A Little Bit of queerPOPERA Goes a Long Way