LGBT Requiem Mass
Holcombe Waller is a singer-songwriter and performance artist living in Portland, Oregon.
Artist BioThe LGBT Requiem Mass leverages the unique trans-disciplinary, trans-institutional convention of the modern Mass to honor LGBT people persecuted, or abandoned to persecution, in the name of religion. Intended to explore music’s role in shaping cultural, political and religious ideology, the project sparks dialogue among artists, religious congregations, arts presenters and communities seeking common ground in the global movement for LGBT safety and equality.
From the Journal
Next week, Holcombe Waller premieres his Creative Capital project, Requiem Mass: LGBT / Working Title, in Portland, Oregon in conjunction with PICA’s TBA Festival. Waller’s Requiem Mass is a ceremonial choral work that explores contemporary faith, advocacy through art, and collective catharsis. Performed in historic Trinity Episcopal Cathedral with an all-abilities community choir drawn from all walks of life, the Requiem is an emotional and personal work invoking remembrance and peace for the dead who have suffered persecution for their sexual orientation or gender expression. Requiem Mass was informed by research into the pivotal gay history from the 1980s through present day and by community engagement that has included working with experts in liturgical music, queer theory, faith-based equality initiatives as well as over 100 participants in a series of choral workshops with Waller over the past year.
Holcombe Waller
Portland, OR
Holcombe Waller is a singer-songwriter and performance artist living in Portland, Oregon. He has authored five albums and three touring interdisciplinary concerts. He was awarded a 2011 U.S. Artists Berresford Fellowship in recognition of artistic excellence in music. He is known for his songwriting combining folk, popular and liturgical influences, as well as his approach to music as ”total theater.” He is an accomplished video-maker, directing his own art-music videos and generating video design within his own performances. His music-theater performances have been presented or commissioned by On the Boards, PICA, Under the Radar, YBCA, Centre Pompidou and many others. He is an avid collaborator, including work with Miguel Gutierrez, Zoe Scofield, Joe Goode, Ryan Trecartin and a feature-length score for filmmaker David Weissman. He most recently released Into the Dark Unknown, a compilation of songs taken from the eponymous 2008 MAP Fund-supported touring show. The album’s music garnered praise from The New York Times, Paste Magazine and NPR, and has been editorially featured on iTunes Indie Spotlight as well as Starbucks’ Pick of the Week. Outside of the performing arts world, Waller has worked with and/or performed with The National, Feist, Mia Doi Todd, Bob Mould, Storm Large, China Forbes, Gabriel Kahane, Menomena, Justin Vivian Bond, The Oregon Symphony, The Magnetic Fields, and many other musicians and bands.