PRESS RELEASE: The Fourth Choir presents a celebration of Trans joy in Songs of Transcendence - Histories of Becoming at Barbican’s Milton Court

Incredible life-stories of trans people throughout history will be celebrated in an event presented by London’s LGBTQ+ classical choir The Fourth Choir, who will be joined on stage by narrators, Mary Malone (Missing You; Doctor Who) and Robyn Holdaway (Sex Education). This uplifting evening of inspiring storytelling and sublime choral music has been developed by trans and non-binary members of the choir, in collaboration with the choir’s Music Director, Jamie Powe.

The choir – which champions music by underrepresented composers – will showcase music by six contemporary trans and non-binary composers, giving the world's first live performance of The Hour and The Clime by Australian composer Jamie Moffatt, and the European premieres of Hope is the thing with feathers and Give orange me by American composers Pax Ressler and Courage Barda. Barda's piece is also the first of their works to be performed outside of the United States.

The remainder of the musical programme features predominantly contemporary composers, as well as two exquisite pieces from the Renaissance period.

Trans people that the choir will celebrate include

• the Chevalier d’Eon – a famous character in Georgian London. Born Charlotte d'Éon de Beaumont in Burgundy in 1728, after a long and adventurous life – including fighting as a Captain in the Dragoons in the Seven Years War for which Louis XV awarded her the distinction of the Cross of Saint-Louis for her bravery - she died in London in 1810. Of her 81 years on the planet, she had lived for 48 years as a man and 33 as a woman.
• Billy Tipton, a trans man who was a jazz pianist and band leader from the mid-1930s until the late 1970s when arthritis forced him to stop performing. Born in Oklahoma in 1914, Tipton presented as a man onstage as soon as he started performing professionally and, by the 1940s, was living exclusively as a man. Billy had long-term relationships with five women who referred to themselves as Mrs Tipton. None of them were aware of his birth sex including his fifth relationship, Kitty Kelly, with whom he adopted three boys. Billy was a doting father and none of the boys ever suspected that their father was a trans man.
• Angela Morley from Leeds was the first openly transgender person to be nominated for an Oscar, receiving two nominations for Best Original Song Score, for The Little Prince in 1974 and The Slipper and the Rose in 1976. Like Charlotte d’Eon, Angela's life fell into two distinct sections. Until the age of 46, Angela lived exclusively as a man, was married with two children and had a successful career in Britain as a composer for radio, writing the theme tunes for The Goon Show and Hancock’s Half Hour. When her first wife died, Angela remarried and her second wife, Christine, gave her the courage to transition which she did in 1972. The two remained together until Angela’s death 40 years later.

These and many other incredible life stories will be told by trans actress Mary Malone and non-binary actor Robyn Holdaway. Malone is known for 2025’s Missing You (Netflix), the 2023 Doctor Who Christmas special, The Church on Ruby Road (BBC One) and the acclaimed 2024 stage musical Fangirls (Lyric Hammersmith); Holdaway is best known for their performance as Layla in series 3 of Sex Education (Netflix) and the 2022 sci-fi drama, Moonhaven (AMC+).

Programme

• Clemens non papa Ego Flos Campi
• Michael Bussewitz-Quarm Nigra sum
• Ravel Trois Beaux Oiseaux du Paradis
• Janequin Le Chant Des Oyseaux
• Tara Mack The Risk of Birth
• eden ahbez (arr. Anders Edenroth) Nature Boy
• M Hamlisch & C Bayer-Sager (arr. Jim Clements) Nobody does it better
• Mari Esabel Valverde Darest, O Soul
• Jake Runestad Let My Love Be Heard
• Jamie Moffat The Hour and The Clime – world premiere live performance
• Courage Barda Give orange me – first performance outside the USA
• Pax Ressler Hope is a Thing with Feathers – European premiere
• Michael Legrand (arr. Alexander Forbes L’Estrange) How Do You Keep the Music Playing?
• Mia Makaroff Butterfly
• CHH Parry (arr. Harrison Knights) O still small voice of calm

Songs of Transcendence: Histories of Becoming
Milton Court Concert Hall
Saturday 14 March, 7pm-9pm

Tickets from £15 are on sale from the Barbican

Advisory note

​Discretion is advised as the lyrics and script for this concert contain a small amount of adult language.

ENDS

The Fourth Choir

The Fourth Choir was founded in September 2013 to give professional and amateur LGBTQ+ singers and allies the opportunity to sing a cappella choral music to the highest standard possible. Now into its second decade, the choir has given over 60 concerts in 40 different venues across 4 countries, including at many of London’s iconic cultural venues including the Royal Festival Hall, the Barbican, Kings Place, the British Museum and Shakespeare’s Globe. Recent highlights include a sold-out, 3-night run of James Joyce’s The Dead at Wilton’s Music Hall, the release of its critically acclaimed debut album Songs of Ourselves, performing live on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune Christmas Special, and making its debut at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

Jamie Powe

Alongside The Fourth Choir, Jamie is currently Musical Director of The New London Singers, Laurelin Voices, Putney Choral Society and The Aubrey Singers. He was Director of The Arcadian Singers 2019–23, the Chapel Choir of Regent’s Park College, Oxford 2019–2021, and was also Associate Director of Ware Choral Society 2022–23.

He studied music at Somerville College, Oxford, before being awarded a scholarship to study choral
conducting at the Royal Academy of Music; he graduated with distinction in his MA, and was also awarded the Thomas Armstrong prize for outstanding choral leadership. Jamie is also a composer and arranger, published with Stainer & Bell. 

Mary Malone

Mary Malone (she/her) is an actress from Suffolk, who graduated from the BA Acting & Contemporary Theatre course at East 15 Drama School in 2020. Her career spans theatre, television and film. On stage she has performed in acclaimed plays and musicals across London and the West End, with notable credits including Fangirls (Lyric Hammersmith), As You Like It (Soho Place), Hope has a Happy Meal (Royal Court) and Burnt at the Stake (Shakespeare’s Globe). In television, Mary’s recent screen work includes Doctor Who (BBC), Vera (ITV), The Girlfriend Experience (STARZ), Chivalry (Baby Cow Productions) and most notably, her role as Aqua in Harlan Coben’s Missing You (Netflix).

Robyn Holdaway

Robyn is a non-binary actor best known for their work as Layla in Netflix's Sex Education. Their credits also include: AMC's Moonhaven, BBC's Strike: Lethal White, and various other stage and screen roles. Their audiobook work includes the award winning Our Wives Under the Sea, as well as critically acclaimed Sistersong, How To Understand Your Gender and Skin. Robyn can be heard in the audio drama Camlann and in the video game Eternal Strands. They are an active member of the LGBTQ community, and they are passionate about bringing this diversity into the mainstream both as an artist and as an activist.

Please contact Elly Dragonetti at The Fourth Choir for any queries or image requests: [email protected]

Images

Photo credits: Kathleen Holman