St. Louis had the Gateway Men's Chorus, the St. Louis Women's Chorale and CHARIS for women and nonbinary people. But there was no all-encompassing, gender-inclusive environment for LGBTQ+ singers to come together.
So he made one of his own.
In 2018, Black Tulip Chorale became St. Louis' first LGBTQ+ mixed-voice chorus for singers of all orientations and gender expressions. In the music world, Stumpf explains, sopranos and altos are typically women, and tenors and basses are men.
"We take that paradigm and throw it right out the window," Stumpf says.
Black Tulip places singers in sections where the color of their voice sits the best.
Now, after five years of paving the wave for inclusivity, Black Tulip will celebrate its fifth anniversary on Sunday, May 21, with "Shining Through," a concert at First Presbyterian Church of Kirkwood (100 East Adams Avenue, Kirkwood; 314-965-0326).
But the concert will focus on more anniversaries than just Black Tulip's.
"Since this is our fifth anniversary concert, we decided we wanted to use it to take the concept of anniversaries even further," Stumpf says.
The chorale will recognize several moments in LGBTQ+ history, with music ranging from art song and oratorio to pop and musical theater. Each selection will commemorate a landmark moment in LGBTQ+ history — and they're not all happy ones.
Black Tulip will recognize the 50th anniversary of the founding of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, or PFLAG, as well as Harvey Milk's legacy. Milk became one of the first openly gay elected officials in the United States before he was assassinated 45 years ago in San Francisco. Black Tulip will sing the same piece the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus sang on the steps of City Hall after Milk's assassination.
The chorale will also reflect on the killing of Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student who was beaten and left to die in 1998. The first law enforcement officer on the scene of Shepard's death reportedly saw a doe sitting near Shepard. Black Tulip will sing "Deer Song" from a later work called Considering Matthew Shepard.
Five years ago, Black Tulip started with 26 singers. It's now up to 46, with young and old members ranging in different levels of experience. There's a retired journalist on board, a professor of pediatrics, a doctoral student studying mathematics and more.
"I think there's a growing need to have more inclusive spaces that also give a chance for larger representation," Stumpf says. "That's one of the things we're shooting for at least."
Black Tulip's name comes from the 1850 novel The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas. At its core, the book tells the story of a character who surmounted a great deal of injustice with the support and trust of others. Black Tulip Chorale strives to create a community in a similar light — to help members find justice in spite of adversity.
"The book landed in my hands probably during one of the darkest, loneliest periods of my life," Stumpf says. "It stuck with me ever since. And when this came around, [the name] just made complete sense."
Black Tulip's "Shining Through" concert will feature the world premiere of a commission from Kansas City composer Ryan Main ("Better Be a Seed") and will conclude with Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Serenade to Music," featuring text from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice accompanied by members of the St. Louis Civic Orchestra.
The concert starts at 5 p.m. Sunday. Tickets cost $15 and are available on Eventbrite.
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