Los Angeles LGBT Center's Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Presents Trans Chorus Of Los Angeles

The Los Angeles LGBT Center's Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center has announced it will be welcoming the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles (TCLA) to its Renberg Theatre for the first time. The musical ambassadors will perform two nights only, Friday, April 7 and Saturday, April 8, at 8pm. TCLA will perform planet Earth's first staged concert production of the full The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars by David Bowie. As Bowie intended, additional hit songs will complete the entire musical saga.

Said TCLA Artistic Director Lindsey Deaton, "There has never been a staged concert production of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars as envisioned by Bowie and told to William Burroughs. The chorus is very thrilled and excited to sing the music of Bowie while telling the story of the 'Starman.' Many of us grew up with Bowie who somehow, we felt, allowed us to live our truth and express ourselves authentically."

TCLA is the largest group of trans and gender non-conforming people anywhere in the world who gather together regularly to raise their voices in song. Its performances are intended not only to empower its members, but also to change the way others see the transgender community. Since their founding in late 2015, TCLA has drawn attention to the trans community and trans issues through live performances, community engagement, and social and traditional media. With a strong belief that TCLA is uniquely positioned to offer the trans narrative in a truly significant and impactful way, its mission is to fiercely empower the transgender, non-binary, and intersex community to discover, love, develop, and use their voices to change the social ecology everywhere.

In its inaugural year, the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles performed at the 2015 West Hollywood Transgender Day of Remembrance with Alexandra Billings and Our Lady J from Transparent; the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles's (GMCLA) Fifth Annual Voice Awards; True Colors debut concert with TCLA, GMCLA, and Vox Femina; LA Pride, Long Beach Pride and TransPride LA; Kol Tikvah Temple; St. John's Cathedral, Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles (the first Trans chorus to perform in a Cathedral anywhere); the opening ceremony of LGBT Heritage Month with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and the LA City Council; the Williams Institute UniTy Awards with Laverne Cox; and Interscope Records' song "Hands," a musical tribute to benefit Orlando victims and LGBT organizations.

Artistic Director Lindsey Deaton is a conductor, guitarist, singer, speaker, and a fierce transgender and LGBTIQ youth advocate. She is the Founder/Artistic Director of the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles. Ms. Deaton served as the conducting apprentice to Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. She has guest conducted the San Francisco Ballet, Louisville Orchestra, Spokane Symphony, Winston-Salem Symphony, Youngstown Symphony and Chorus, Schenectady Symphony, and numerous orchestras at the Aspen Music Festival, among others. An active music educator, in 2002 Ms. Deaton received the Dalcroze Certificate and the Dalcroze License from the Juilliard School in New York City. Her principle teachers were famed conducting pedagogue Leon Barzin in Paris, Gunther Schuller, Murry Sidlin, and Celin Romero. She studied with Dalcroze experts Robert Abramson and Marta Sanchez. She received her MFA in Conducting from Carnegie Mellon University.

General admission tickets are $35 and may be purchased online at www.lalgbtcenter.org/theatre or by phone at (323) 860-7300. Net proceeds from all ticket sales will support the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles and the full range of free and low-cost programs and services offered by the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

The Los Angeles LGBT Center's Renberg Theatre is located at 1125 N. McCadden Place (one block east of Highland, just north of Santa Monica Boulevard), in Hollywood, 90038. During construction of the Center's new facility, free parking is limited. Please allow extra time to find parking, or choose public transportation or a ride service such as Lyft or Uber.

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