Artemis Singers, Chicago’s lesbian feminist chorus, is celebrating love in all its forms at its upcoming winter performance.
The “All About Love” show happens 7 p.m. Feb. 1 at Bronzeville’s VanderCook College of Music, 3125 S. Federal St. Tickets are available here.
The show is themed around the many forms love can take, whether that’s between romantic partners, friends or the tight-knit community formed around Artemis Singers, which saw record-breaking participation this season.
“It means a lot for a lesbian chorus to have a show that explicitly celebrates not only our romantic relationships, but also our friendship and our community,” said Amber Bunnag, production manager for the show. “So we’ll be singing everything from love songs to friendship songs, breakup songs and explicitly sapphic songs.”
Artemis Singers was founded in 1980 to give queer women a place to perform music written or arranged by other women. Its shows often take on themes around historical, political and personal events, and every performance is self-directed. Most creative decisions are determined by a group vote, said Artemis Singers President Diana Clegg.
The member input on song selection shows in the upcoming “All About Love” show, which features a range of songs from Chappell Roan’s “Red Wine Supernova” to classics like Joan Armatrading’s “Love and Affection,” said concert artistic director Paige Bosler.
Other songs include covers of songs by Boygenius and Queen, and an original song by chorus member Ab Lag called “We’ve Got Some Time Still,” which is about the importance of friendship during difficult times.
They’ll also perform chorus member Allison Downing’s “Sing Lesbian Love,” which is a song explicitly about lesbian love and sex.
“It feels very Shakespearian to me that we come out with a statement that we’ll explicitly sing about lesbian love,” Bosler said.
The show will also honor Black History Month with a selection of songs by Black women in music, including “Seven Day Kiss, a poem by June Jordan and composed by the late Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon.
“It’s really fun to do the song selection because it reflects what everyone brings to the chorus and the diverse connections we share within the group,” Bosler said.
Clegg, who joined the chorus in 1993, said larger groups of younger members started joining the chorus as in-person events started back up after the COVID pandemic. This seasons’ chorus has 57 members, up from 48 last year and compared to 38 in 2022.
“It’s created so much beautiful new energy, and I’ve really appreciated this opportunity to be an intergenerational group,” Clegg said.
Bunnag said the intergenerational component of Artemis Singers is what makes the group so special.
“I don’t have a lot of other avenues through which I meet older lesbians and older queer people,” Bosler said. “It’s been really awesome to get to know the members who paved the way for us to sing today.”
This year also marks Artemis Singers’s 45th anniversary, Clegg said.
“It brings tears to my eyes just talking about this, but to be at 45 years and see this new growth and new interest makes me feel like we can continue to grow, evolve and thrive within the community,” Clegg said.