Official site of composer Andrea Clearfield. Biography, list of works with audio, score samples, reviews and program notes, photographs, upcoming performances.
Long Live the Queen (a her-story of drag) – cantata in progress
Scoring: drag soloist (tenor), 4 vocal soloists, SATB chorus, chamber orchestra (winds, strings, piano and percussion), and digital sound. The work will also be available with reduced scoring. Text:Cookie Diorio Duration: 90 minutes, in 3 parts Premiere: Part 1 was previewed on May 17, 2025 with Cookie Diorio, the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus and instrumental quartet. The full work featuring Cookie Diorio, soloists, The Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus, ANNA Crusis Feminist Choir, Voices of Pride and The Transcendent Choir of Philadelphia will be premiered and featured during the ArtPhilly What Now 2026 Festival on June 19, 20 and 21, 2026 at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia. Published by: Angelfire Press. Distributed by Black Tea Music. Contact Trudy Chan
for score and parts. For questions, contact Andrea:
SUMMARY
Long Live the Queen (a her-story of drag) is a genre-defying cantata created by drag artist, opera singer, and costume designer Cookie Diorio and composer Andrea Clearfield. This 90-minute work brings together drag, opera, cabaret, multi-media oratorio and performance art scored for drag soloist (tenor), chorus, vocal quartet, and chamber orchestra. Told in three parts, the piece dives into the history of drag, its role in queer culture, and its power to challenge systems and spark change. It doesn’t shy away from the hard stuff: Long Live the Queen calls out the ways misinformation and policy are being used to silence artists and communities, while lifting up drag as a fierce, joyful act of resistance and self-expression. It is a cantata reimagined through a drag lens, from a drag voice. The full work will premiere on June 19, 20 and 21, 2026 at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia as part of ArtPhilly’s city-wide interdisciplinary arts semiquincentennial festival, where artists are responding to the overarching theme “What Now.”
Cookie Diorio and Andrea are seeking funds to help pay our artist fees and production costs (4 choirs conductors, primary conductor, soloist fees, rehearsal pianists, costume material, music editorial/printing) of Long Live the Queen. We would be so grateful for your help. You can make a tax-deductible donation to Long Live the Queen on our Fractured Atlas page here. Visit Cookie’s website for more information!
WATCH excerpts in progress
BACKGROUND
Long Live the Queen (a her-story of drag) in collaboration with drag artist/opera singer/librettist and costume designer, Cookie Diorio, is a 90-minute work scored for drag soloist (tenor), 4 LGBTQ+ choruses, vocal quartet and chamber orchestra. The 3-part work explores a unique intersection of multimedia cantata, opera, drag, cabaret, and performance art. The Prologue was composed at Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Part 1 at The Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center Residency and Part 2 at Marble House Project and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation where Andrea was composer in residence. Part 1 had its premiere in a reduced scoring with the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus, conducted by Joseph Buches on May 17-18, 2024 at Suzanne Roberts Theater. Portions of the work were performed in concert at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Pride 2024 event at Rockefeller Center on June 12, 2024. Long Live the Queen Part 1 was a featured work at the GALA Festival (LGBTQ+ Choruses, over 7000 singers) in Minneapolis on July 13, 2024. The full work will be featured at ArtPhilly‘s June, 2026 city-wide festival during the nation’s quincentennial where artists are responding to the overarching theme “What Now”.
The work highlights the role drag plays in our society and the LGBTQ+ community and educating others to the long and rich history of drag performance dating back to Shakespeare and Monteverdi operas that were performed “en travesti” (in disguise/“in drag”). The piece includes contributions of drag performers as activists and proponents for social change, as well as the impact our social systems have on drag. The dynamic work creates a vision for understanding, acceptance and social and cultural change in light of increased discrimination of drag events and performers in the U.S. Democracy promises the right to self-expression while certain groups are targeted for expressing that right. This prompts questions of whose voices are truly being protected and where the boundaries of democracy truly lie. This evening-length work critiques the weaponization of misinformation, fearmongering, and policy-making that threaten artistic and personal freedoms and will convey a prescient message that the celebration of cultural expressions is needed to create inclusion in the democratic system. In addition, Part III of our work raises questions about the future of this long-standing art form and the adaptability of our democratic ideals.
Drag has traditionally been used on the opera stage solely as a contrived way to impose specific voice parts upon a character as the travesti role. Conversely, using classical vocal performance to express drag culture, drag history, and contemporary modes of drag performance from an authentic, first-person point of view is an avenue that has yet to be fully explored in opera. The art of drag and operatic performance share commonalities in language, form, and function: both require high levels of technical skill and artistic development; both rely upon storytelling through music and both have a grandiosity in visual design and aesthetic quality.
Long Live the Queen (a her-story of drag) – cantata in progress
Scoring: drag soloist (tenor), 4 vocal soloists, SATB chorus, chamber orchestra (winds, strings, piano and percussion), and digital sound. The work will also be available with reduced scoring.
Text: Cookie Diorio
Duration: 90 minutes, in 3 parts
Premiere: Part 1 was previewed on May 17, 2025 with Cookie Diorio, the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus and instrumental quartet. The full work featuring Cookie Diorio, soloists, The Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus, ANNA Crusis Feminist Choir, Voices of Pride and The Transcendent Choir of Philadelphia will be premiered and featured during the ArtPhilly What Now 2026 Festival on June 19, 20 and 21, 2026 at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia.
Published by: Angelfire Press. Distributed by Black Tea Music. Contact Trudy Chan
for score and parts. For questions, contact Andrea:
SUMMARY
Long Live the Queen (a her-story of drag) is a genre-defying cantata created by drag artist, opera singer, and costume designer Cookie Diorio and composer Andrea Clearfield. This 90-minute work brings together drag, opera, cabaret, multi-media oratorio and performance art scored for drag soloist (tenor), chorus, vocal quartet, and chamber orchestra. Told in three parts, the piece dives into the history of drag, its role in queer culture, and its power to challenge systems and spark change. It doesn’t shy away from the hard stuff: Long Live the Queen calls out the ways misinformation and policy are being used to silence artists and communities, while lifting up drag as a fierce, joyful act of resistance and self-expression. It is a cantata reimagined through a drag lens, from a drag voice. The full work will premiere on June 19, 20 and 21, 2026 at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia as part of ArtPhilly’s city-wide interdisciplinary arts semiquincentennial festival, where artists are responding to the overarching theme “What Now.”
Cookie Diorio and Andrea are seeking funds to help pay our artist fees and production costs (4 choirs conductors, primary conductor, soloist fees, rehearsal pianists, costume material, music editorial/printing) of Long Live the Queen. We would be so grateful for your help. You can make a tax-deductible donation to Long Live the Queen on our Fractured Atlas page here. Visit Cookie’s website for more information!
WATCH excerpts in progress
BACKGROUND
Long Live the Queen (a her-story of drag) in collaboration with drag artist/opera singer/librettist and costume designer, Cookie Diorio, is a 90-minute work scored for drag soloist (tenor), 4 LGBTQ+ choruses, vocal quartet and chamber orchestra. The 3-part work explores a unique intersection of multimedia cantata, opera, drag, cabaret, and performance art. The Prologue was composed at Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Part 1 at The Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center Residency and Part 2 at Marble House Project and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation where Andrea was composer in residence. Part 1 had its premiere in a reduced scoring with the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus, conducted by Joseph Buches on May 17-18, 2024 at Suzanne Roberts Theater. Portions of the work were performed in concert at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Pride 2024 event at Rockefeller Center on June 12, 2024. Long Live the Queen Part 1 was a featured work at the GALA Festival (LGBTQ+ Choruses, over 7000 singers) in Minneapolis on July 13, 2024. The full work will be featured at ArtPhilly‘s June, 2026 city-wide festival during the nation’s quincentennial where artists are responding to the overarching theme “What Now”.
The work highlights the role drag plays in our society and the LGBTQ+ community and educating others to the long and rich history of drag performance dating back to Shakespeare and Monteverdi operas that were performed “en travesti” (in disguise/“in drag”). The piece includes contributions of drag performers as activists and proponents for social change, as well as the impact our social systems have on drag. The dynamic work creates a vision for understanding, acceptance and social and cultural change in light of increased discrimination of drag events and performers in the U.S. Democracy promises the right to self-expression while certain groups are targeted for expressing that right. This prompts questions of whose voices are truly being protected and where the boundaries of democracy truly lie. This evening-length work critiques the weaponization of misinformation, fearmongering, and policy-making that threaten artistic and personal freedoms and will convey a prescient message that the celebration of cultural expressions is needed to create inclusion in the democratic system. In addition, Part III of our work raises questions about the future of this long-standing art form and the adaptability of our democratic ideals.
Drag has traditionally been used on the opera stage solely as a contrived way to impose specific voice parts upon a character as the travesti role. Conversely, using classical vocal performance to express drag culture, drag history, and contemporary modes of drag performance from an authentic, first-person point of view is an avenue that has yet to be fully explored in opera. The art of drag and operatic performance share commonalities in language, form, and function: both require high levels of technical skill and artistic development; both rely upon storytelling through music and both have a grandiosity in visual design and aesthetic quality.