The International Pride Orchestra performs at the Strathmore Music Center in North Bethesda, Maryland in 2025. On Wednesday, June 3, the orchestra will perform its annual Pride Celebration Concert in Houston, bringing together an ensemble of over 85 LGBTQ+ musicians and allies. Photo courtesy of Beth Caldwell.
A group of nearly 100 LGBTQ+ musicians will perform a classical concert this week to celebrate queer experiences and raise money for the Montrose Center, which has long supported Houston’s community.
The International Pride Orchestra’s annual Pride Celebration Concert will be the group’s fourth in as many years. It will be held June 3 at the Cullen Theater at the Wortham Center.
Hosted by drag queen Peaches Christ, the concert features an ensemble of over 85 LGBTQ+ musicians and allies, joined by bass-baritone Davóne Tines. Founder and director Michael Roest said the concert’s program demonstrates “the full breadth of the queer experience.”
“We are expressing joy and pride and resilience and struggle,” Roest said.
Roest founded the International Pride Orchestra in 2022. Since then, the orchestra has performed in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and New York City. Now, it is making its Texas debut.
“We wanted to make sure that we didn’t just represent the coasts, that we found our way into all aspects of America,” Roest said. “And Texas is an extraordinary state and there is a beautiful queer community in Houston.”
Roest said that though the International Pride Orchestra always needs to be mindful of safety wherever they choose to perform, Houston has opened its arms to the orchestra.
“No matter where we go, we always have to be thoughtful because still today there is a lot of rhetoric being thrown around that is marginalizing our community,” he said. “Fortunately, we’ve been very welcomed by our presenting hall in Houston at the Cullen Theater at the Wortham Center and the community itself.”
This type of reception has not always been guaranteed for violist Aleksandre Roderick-Lorenz, who said they had previously quit a job in the face of discrimination.
Roderick-Lorenz joined the International Pride Orchestra during its second season, and said they were grateful for what the experience has offered
“This ensemble has really changed, or has elevated my sense of confidence in regards to my identity, coming from a place where I’ve had to fight many times just to not lose the gig,” they said.
Roderick-Lorenz said the orchestra has had a significant personal impact on them: “It’s just so extraordinary to be a part of an organization where you’re not just tolerated, where you’re just not accepted, where you’re rather embraced.”
They said the impact of the annual Pride Celebration Concert also extends to the audiences and the general public.
“It’s just very powerful to be a part of something where we are putting ourselves in front of the circumstances that we’re facing,” Roderick-Lorenz said. “Just to have that representation, just to have our voices being heard, for us to be sitting at the table, for people to see that we have so much color, we have an entire rainbow to bring to the table.”
That rainbow includes drag artists like drag queen Peaches Christ, who has hosted the concert every year since the International Pride Orchestra was founded.
Roest said her hosting brings both comedy and gravity to the evening.
“Drag is an extremely important cultural part of the queer community,” Roest said. “And so for us and for many people who come to one of our concerts, maybe for the first time, it’s a fascinating experience to break down all of those rules and traditions and barriers and conservatism that exist within the classical music space.
“When you put a drag queen in front of an orchestra, you start to break down that fourth wall.”
The various performers come together for a nine song program, featuring pieces by Leonard Bernstein and Gabriella Lena Frank, and Davóne Tines narrating Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait.
Roderick-Lorenz said the music creates a safe space that words alone often cannot create.
“I strongly believe that there’s refuge in music, and that’s what we are creating,” they said. “We’re creating a beautiful space where the magic can happen and where nothing else matters. We’re simply who we are and we’re showing ourselves unapologetically.”
The International Pride Orchestra partners with a local organization for each Pride Celebration Concert. This year, a portion of proceeds from ticket sales will benefit the Montrose Center, which has served Houston’s LGBTQ+ community since 1978. Tickets are available on the Performing Arts Houston website.