YOUR LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY
BAND IN CINCINNATI
Hear Us! Join Us!
About Us:
We believe that all talent is worthy of development and that visible artistic expression improves our communities’ health
Dr. Jon Noworyta, Artistic Director
Jon Noworyta is the Artistic Director of the Queen City Freedom Band. He is Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Bands, Instrumental Activities, and Educational Outreach at the University of Indianapolis. There, he administers all aspects of the woodwind, brass, and percussion area, teaches basic and advanced conducting and courses in music education, and conducts the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Pep Band, and opera. A versatile conductor who is equally comfortable with orchestras as wind and brass groups, Noworyta is the Director of the Crossroads Brass Band of Indianapolis, IN, and the former Assistant Conductor of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. Ensembles under his direction have given notable local, state, national, and international performances, the most significant being Carnegie Hall in 2009, the 2010 Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic (rehearsal lab), and the 2012 Music for All National Festival. Noworyta has led groups at such legendary venues as Chicago’s Symphony Center, the Kennedy Center, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Carnegie Hall.
Noworyta’s professional affiliations have included the NAFME, CBDNA, WASBE, NABBA, NBA, Pride Bands Alliance, GLSEN, the Conductors Guild, and the Indiana, Illinois, New York (NYSSMA) and Ohio Music Educators Associations. He currently sits on the Committee for Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion for the North American Brass Band Association, is listed among the Who’s Who in America Educator’s Edition, and is a founding member and on the advisory team for the 32,000+ member “Band Director” Facebook group. Noworyta shared his personal-professional story in “Out In Front: Queer Identity and Visibility in the Wind Band,” a compilation of queer career and coming out stories included in the recent GIA publication The Horizon Leans Forward… stories of courage, strength, and triumph of underrepresented communities in the wind band field by Erik Kar Jun Leung.
A Western New York native, Noworyta holds degrees from Baldwin-Wallace University (BME), Northwestern University (MM), and the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati (DMA). Additional study as a participant in conducting workshops at the Eastman School of Music, the New England Conservatory, and the Juilliard School, has given Noworyta the opportunity to work with the major conducting pedagogues in the field today.
Joining the Band:
The Queen City Freedom Band (QCFB) is the LGBTQ+ concert band in Cincinnati, OH. Open to woodwinds, brass, and percussion players of all abilities and orientations – including allies – the QCFB places a high emphasis on community building through music. All are welcome, COME OUT and play!
Our season runs concurrent with the academic year, with concert cycles in the Fall, Spring, and early Summer. Rehearsals are Sundays 1:00-3:00 PM during the regular season in Elmwood Place. No auditions are required and music is sent electronically to print or download on a tablet. Membership dues are requested at $30 per season, but don’t let cost be a barrier! QCFB musicians are given the flexibility to commit to individual concert cycles.
If you are ready to sign up, please fill out this Membership Form! This will add you to our musicians mailing list. You only need to fill out this form once.
In addition to the membership form, players should sign up for each cycle within the season by completing the Rehearsal Attendance Form for that cycle, linked below. After you fill out this form, you will receive a link to the music for the corresponding cycle.
Rehearsals will be Sundays 1-3, starting on January 26th, 2025.
The concert will be Saturday, March 29, 2025, at 3pm, at Christ Church Cathedral, 318 E 4th St, Cincinnati, OH 45202.
To join, fill out our Membership Form and this cycle’s Rehearsal Attendance Form.
Rehearsals will be Sundays from 1-3, starting on April 27th, 2025.
The concert will be Sunday, June 8, 2025, time and location TBA.
Rehearsals were Sundays from 1-3, starting on September 8th, 2024.
The concert was Sunday, November 3rd, 2024, at 3pm, at the Cincinnati Ballet’s Valentine Center For Dance, 1801 Gilbert Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45202.
Unsure about joining? Want to try it out first? Interested members are welcome to come try out a rehearsal. Send us an email with your name and instrument, and we’ll let you know when the next rehearsal is. Remember, all are welcome!
Concerts & Events
Join us for our Homecoming celebration! Saturday, March 29, 2025 at the Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Cincinnati. Tickets are $10 and available at Givebutter.com/QCFBHomecoming.
Your Queen City Freedom Band is larger and more excited than ever to perform for you. The program includes two works featuring Dr. Russ Zokaites as bass trombone soloist. Russ worked hard to help start the QCFB in 2018 along with co-founder and current artistic director, Dr. Jon Noworyta, when the pair were doctoral students at the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. After graduating, Russ’s career as a college music professor took him out of Cincinnati and away from the QCFB to great success. He now serves as Assistant Professor of Trombone at Fresno State University in California. We warmly welcome back Russ, his husband Logan, and their son to Cincinnati to musically celebrate the growth of our band.
We will also celebrate the 10 year anniversary of same-sex marriage equality in the United States by performing the Cincinnati premiere of John and Jim by queer composer Viet Cuong. John and Jim was commissioned by the Columbus Pride Bands and the Queen City Freedom Band and first performed at the 2024 Pride Bands Alliance Annual Conference held in Columbus, OH. The piece celebrates the love between Jim Obergefell and John Arthur and their role in the landmark Supreme Court decision Obergefell v Hodges (2015). John and Jim met, fell in love, and shared their lives together in Cincinnati. We are honored to welcome Jim home to Cincinnati for the playing of this piece and we are all honored to hold John in our hearts as we perform this special music.
Works include:
- Homecoming by Alex Shapiro
- Dum Spiro Spero by Chris Pilsner
- Bone Slayer by Gary Gilroy featuring Dr. Russ Zokaites, bass trombone
- In the Hall of the Mountain King arranged by Bill Geldard featuring Dr. Russ Zokaites, bass trombone
- John and Jim by Viet Cuong
Location:
Christ Church Cathedral
318 E 4th St
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Schedule of Events:
- 2:00 PM Pre-concert talk with Jim Obergefell, Artistic Director Jon Noworyta, and trombone soloist Russ Zokaites. (no additional charge)
- 3:00 PM Concert
- Immediately following: Reception in the Christ Church Cathedral library
QCFB’s Homecoming Concert is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the generosity of tens of thousands of contributors to the annual ArtsWave Campaign, the region’s primary source for arts funding.
Many additional thanks to the following for their generous support:
- Christ Church Cathedral for hosting us for this concert, and
- Scrap It Up for a grant that significantly covered our cost in the commissioning project for John and Jim
Join us Sunday, June 8, 2025, for our pride concert. More information and concert poster to follow.
Thank you for all the support for our fall concert!
Join us on a world tour celebrating the beauty of song and the power of dance from every corner of the globe. Sunday, November 3, at 3pm, our fall concert, Songs, Dances, Ballads, and Ballet will feature special guest vocal soloist Alyssa Davis.
We are excited to be hosting this concert at a new venue – the beautiful Cincinnati Ballet Valentine Center for Dance!
Free and open to the public. Free parking is available in the form of street parking as well as surface lots connected to the building and on the grounds.
Location:
Cincinnati Ballet, Valentine Center For Dance
1801 Gilbert Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45202Register for your free tickets at GiveButter. $10 suggested donation at registration or the door. No one turned away.
Queen City Freedom Band Videos
This video of the QCFB was part of a larger video concert performance recorded in June, 2021.
You will see an introduction by our Artistic Director, Dr. Jon Noworyta, followed by our band performing two short band selections.
This video from of the QCFB was part of a larger Cincinnati Points of Pride series in June, 2023, and features clips of our band rehearsing before our 2023 Pride concert.
Contact Us!
We can’t wait to hear from you!
Let us know if you have questions, or need a ride to rehearsal.
