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Musician | brandonlepage.com
Brandon LePage is a new Wisconsin resident as of June, 2025 after almost a decade of driving in and out of Madison to perform with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra as their Principal Flutist. As the new Assistant Professor of Flute at UW-Whitewater, he is looking forward to expanding the work he did on his recent doctoral dissertation titled “Queer Excellence Through Musical Activism.” His work takes a look at three “aspects” of queerness: Identity, Politics, and Representation, and puts them on display through various modes of performance to make and create a meaningful and impactful change in the world around him. Through identity, Brandon strives to showcase how we can channel excellence through queer bodies to help uplift and empower communities. This experience acts as an enhancer to allow listeners to emotionally connect together through music. Most recently he performed a recital of music written by composers from Flint, Michigan including several world premieres and a featured piece by a new composer, Haden Plouffe, and he shared the stage with another professional gay musician who serves Flint, flutist Jordan Smith. His lecture recital titled “Music in the Age of the Gun” took a hard look at queer politics putting on display the stark contrast between the lack of gun legislation (which seems impossible to get into place) and the harmful laws being passed that aim to control or erase our queerness, particularly trans lives. He hopes to expand this series in the coming year with a focus on the Climate Crisis. Throughout that recital, he offered ways for audience members to actively engage in the political sphere tailored to their individual comfort levels, and several people in attendance were so moved they actually committed to change the way they vote moving forward showing that “active” is still in the word activism. Finally, Brandon consistently commissions LGBTQ+ identifying composers to write chamber music for intermediate middle school level musicians (which is severely lacking) as well as professional-level music that is intended to tell stories and inspire empathy. It is his hope that by allowing students to experience queer people through the positive lens of music that they are able to see honest and realistic representations of otherwise “sensationalized” individuals, helping them to understand that we are all human, beautiful, and deserving of love, respect, and dignity.
Gabriel Aguilar, Dancer & Composer
BJ Daniels, Drag Performer
Brandon LePage, Musician
Han Raschka, Poet
Chuang Wang, Visual Artist
2025 Queer Arts Directory
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