LGBTQ+ Support

VCU student Nat Scida performs "Dear Dad" by composer Ted Nash with the VCU Jazz Orchestra I directed by Prof. Antonio García. photo credit: Paris Boynes

Jazz at Lincoln Center saxophonist Ted Nash created a jazzproject with the actor Glenn Close (who is a mental health advocate), including the creation of a piece for narrator and jazz band. "Dear Dad" is a two-part piece: the first, a reading of a letter to dad from a college-age child, Eli, the second, a musical response from the dad after reading the child's"coming-out as transgender man" letter. On November 4, 2021 the VCU Jazz Orchestra I presented what may have been the first performance outside of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra of this work. The ensemble partnered with the narration by a queer and trans freshman at VCU in the music education track: flutist/saxophonist Nat Scida. There are plans to reprise the piece on an upcoming VCU Jazz 4 Justice(TM) concert.

| Return to Educator/VCU Jazz/Social Justice |