Suggestions for Transgender Inclusion in Classical Music by Xavia Publius

This interdisciplinary text examines the lack of transgender inclusion in Western classical music, especially through the lens of opera. By looking at the dearth of transgender characters, singers, and composers, as well as the author’s personal experiences as a transgender singer in classical spaces, this project develops a strong position on ways that Western classical music should work to incorporate transgender voices, both literally and figuratively.

Some of these methods are modeled in this thesis, such as consultations with other transgender artists, transgeneric devising, and trans-centric composing. The author worked with local transgender singers to understand their views on opera, and from those sessions composed three arias for transgender voices, which are presented here. These arias are embedded self-reflexively in a performative document that embraces several different writing contexts, such as epic poetry, diaries, Socratic dialogues, legislation, and course writing.

About the author -

Xavia Publius (she/her, ze/hir) is a PhD student in Performance Studies at the University of Alberta (Treaty 6/Métis Region 4 lands). She received her B.A. in Music with a minor in LGBTQ Studies from Colgate University, and her M.A. in Women's and Gender Studies from the University of Northern Iowa. A trans woman originally from the United States, her research interests include queer representation in US film and television, trans history, trans participation in the performing arts, media archaeology, and fan studies. She is also a composer, drag performer, and fanfiction author.

Interested in learning more? Visit the full text here -

organized by Christina Fiol
Resource Committee Member