Queer Festival: Closet Music

Janne Nisonen conductor Seth Parker Woods cello Erkki Melartin: Lydische Suite, Op. 102 Camille Saint-Saëns: Suite for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 16 Intermission Pyotr Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64 The most common and understandable solution for gay composers of the past was to remain in the closet. Erkki Melartin’s (1875–1937) sexual orientation was once an open secret, but Tuire Ranta-Meyer’s biography in 2025 finally forced the composer out of the closet. The Lydische Suite is named after the ancient kingdom of Lydia. Its music was originally written for a play about King Candaules. Saint-Saëns and Tchaikovsky tried to dispel the rumors by getting unsuccessfully married. Saint-Saëns was very protective of his privacy and fled to the freer atmosphere of Algeria during the winters. His Cello Suite Op. 15, featuring two-time Grammy nominee Seth Parker Woods as soloist, is remembered for its movingly beautiful Romance. Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony is a monument to grand, open-hearted, and refined emotion, whose triumph is unstoppable in the end.