FREE events ahead of Bianca Del Rio in Birmingham

Following the success of a host of free activities over Pride weekend curated by Town Hall Symphony Hall for the local LGBTQ community, THSH are delighted to present two free pre-show foyer events ahead of Bianca Del Rio’s main hall concert on Monday 30^th July.

The events begin at 6pm with a performance from Soprano Alexandra Bork and pianist Nick Bonadies presented by THSH & FLUID Festival.

Alexandra and Nick have joined a growing circle of queer classical musicians in the U.K. who smash down walls between classical concert halls and queer performance spaces.

From their shared years studying at ‘straight’-laced conservatoires, Alexandra and Nick’s collaboration focuses on opera’s heart-shatteringly high-diva moments to cabaret classics.

Alexandra’s golden soprano graces the U.K.’s stages in operatic roles from Madame Butterfly to Fiordiligi; they also appear as a regular on the London Pride and cabaret scene.  Nick has appeared as a soloist in St. John’s Smith Square, as a drag harpsichordist on Channel 4, and also as a PhD student, working with classical music as raw material for radical queer performance.

The duo made their debut in 2017 at C.N. Lester’s Transpose at Barbican Centre, a curation of trans-, genderqueer, and non-binary artists and performers, eliciting screams of rapture by way of Puccini, Monteverdi, and Dvorak.

At 7pm the magnificent Lady Miss Ikea makes a welcome return to the Symphony Hall foyers. Hear her nails scratch the decks as she gets you worked up, wet and ready for the self-proclaimed “clown in a gown” Bianca Del Rio.

Bring your best looks to the dance floor and let her tease you with the most glamorous deep, house, disco and wildest pop. In addition to live music, the bars will be open with special offers on selected drinks. In the words of Adore Delano, “PARTY!”