Official site of composer Andrea Clearfield. Biography, list of works with audio, score samples, reviews and program notes, photographs, upcoming performances.
Scoring: cantata for drag soloist (tenor), 4 vocal soloists, SATB chorus, chamber orchestra (winds, strings, piano and percussion), and digital sound. The work is also 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, and cabaret, scored for drag soloist (tenor), chorus, vocal quartet, chamber orchestra and digital sound. Told in three parts, Long Live the Queen is about identity, resilience and the courage to be seen. It lifts up drag as a fierce, joyful act of resistance and self-expression. The work premiered on June 18, 19 and 20, 2026 at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia as part of ArtPhilly’s city-wide interdisciplinary arts semiquincentennial festival, where artists responded to the overarching theme “What Now.”
WATCH Cookie and Andrea perform the Queen’s “With Every Step”
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, chamber orchestra and digital sound. The 3-part work explores a unique intersection of cantata, opera, drag and cabaret. 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 premiered at ArtPhilly‘s June, 2026 city-wide festival during the nation’s quincentennial where artists responded to the overarching theme “What Now”.
Long Live the Queen harkens back 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 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.
Long Live the Queen (a her-story of drag)
Scoring: cantata for drag soloist (tenor), 4 vocal soloists, SATB chorus, chamber orchestra (winds, strings, piano and percussion), and digital sound. The work is also 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, and cabaret, scored for drag soloist (tenor), chorus, vocal quartet, chamber orchestra and digital sound. Told in three parts, Long Live the Queen is about identity, resilience and the courage to be seen. It lifts up drag as a fierce, joyful act of resistance and self-expression. The work premiered on June 18, 19 and 20, 2026 at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia as part of ArtPhilly’s city-wide interdisciplinary arts semiquincentennial festival, where artists responded to the overarching theme “What Now.”
WATCH Cookie and Andrea perform the Queen’s “With Every Step”
For more audio, video and information, visit the Long Live the Queen project page.
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, chamber orchestra and digital sound. The 3-part work explores a unique intersection of cantata, opera, drag and cabaret. 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 premiered at ArtPhilly‘s June, 2026 city-wide festival during the nation’s quincentennial where artists responded to the overarching theme “What Now”.
Long Live the Queen harkens back 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 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.