Quiet, Happy Moments and Healing

​Stefanie Grosekemper, a singer in our soprano section, shares her thoughts on the song "And We Walked" from the choral suite "Quiet No More".

​“And We Walked” has been such a special, healing song for me. I am someone who has always known, and always acknowledged that they were gay, but couldn’t quite shake the feeling that I didn’t own or embody this queerness. It took me a long time, and I am still on my journey picturing myself in a happy, safe future because of the heteronormative imagery thrust upon me. I suffered from crippling depression my whole childhood and early adulthood trying to force myself into a box I didn’t belong in because it felt like my only option.

Singing about quiet, happy moments from the perspective of an assumed queer womxn really healed a wound I didn’t know I had. The fact that the composer of this piece spent time and created such a beautiful layered piece paying homage to lost loved ones, lost opportunity, and regaining power has profoundly changed me, and has given me a small touchstone to feel like I belong. We, as a community, truly have the power to lift each other up and end the injustices forced upon us, and other marginalized communities, through regaining that power. I am so grateful for music, friendship, and activism.

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LGCSF will be performing "Quiet No More", a brand new choral suite celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, at our OUT in the Streets concert on May 31. Get tickets at https://stonewall50.brownpapertickets.com/.