Past Seasons

Thank you for your support for our fall concert!

This concert has been crafted to share the music of composers whose communities have specifically been targeted by those with power. Music gives a voice to the downtrodden — telling their story when others would have it stricken from existence.

Featured works:

• John Williams (arr. Lavender) — Star Wars: The Force Awakens – March of the Resistance
• Hope Salmonson — Rediscovery
• Adrian Sims — Uniquely You
• Catherine Likhuta — Through Healer's Eyes
• Mark Camphouse — A Movement for Rosa
• Michele Fernandez — Proud of Me
• Benj Pasek & Justin Paul (arr. Michael Brown) — This is Me from The Greatest Showman

Thank you for your support for our spring concert!

Celebrate the immense diversity of the LGBTQ+ community at historic Music Hall with Artists Rendering: Palette of Pride. This immersive experience blends a musical performance—featuring an evocative steel pan concerto—with a curated pop-up art exhibition and a live painting experience. In collaboration with local queer artists, the QCFB explores the visual arts through musical representations of color, shading, and sculpture. By treating sound as a canvas and melody as a brushstroke, this multisensory event invites you on a memorable journey where vibrant orchestral textures and live artistry unite to celebrate the brilliant spectrum of queer identity.

Thank you for your support for our pride concert!

The Queen City Freedom Band's Pride concert, Fierce!, features tunes from some of our fiercest musical icons throughout the past several decades. Pride is about fiercely advocating for one another day after day, and we welcome you to join us in celebrating through song as we perform pieces from well-known musicals, blockbuster movies, beloved pop tunes, and more.

Featured Pieces

• Selections from Dreamgirls
• Mame / Hello, Dolly!
• Disco Lives
• Queen in Concert
• Pop and Rock Legends: Elton John
• The Queen of Soul
• Material Girl
• Adele in Concert
• Barbie's World
• Soda Pop
• Taylor Swift: Eras

Thank you for your 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, Song, Dance, Ballad, 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.

Thank you for your support for our spring concert!

Join us for our Homecoming celebration!

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

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

Thank you for your support for our pride concert!

Join the QCFB for our annual Pride concert titled "Animania: An Exuberant Look at Pride". This fun concert features the music behind popular animated mediums.

Program includes:

• Bullock, Cartoon Carnival

• Giacchino/Brown,Selections from UP

• Elfman/Lavender,The Simpsons

• Standridge,Animation: Episode 1: Wabbit!

• arr. Lavender,Theme from Spongebob Square Pants

• arr. O'Donnell/Ford,Video Games Live – Part I

  • i.Halo
  • ii.Civilization
  • iii. Kingdom Hearts

• Powell/O'Laughlin, Music from How to Train Your Dragon

• Horner/Bocook, Avatar Soundtrack Highlights

Thank you for your support for our fall concert!

Are you ready for a revolution? Join us on Sunday, November 5 for adventure, heroics, and an appreciation of those who fought for change before us.

Admission is free, with donations welcome to support the mission of the Queen City Freedom Band.

Thank you for your support for our spring concert!

A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. – Christopher Reeve

Join the Queen City Freedom Band in an afternoon of music celebrating heroes both real and fictitious. Selections include pieces from Star Trek, Captain Marvel, Spiderman, and Batman, as well as pieces honoring real-life heroes.

Please note that the following pieces address serious and heavy themes:

• "Watchman, Tell Us of the Night" composed by Mark Camphouse will pay tribute to the survivors of child abuse.
• "Kyiv, 2022" composed by Brian Balmages raises awareness of the ongoing war in Ukraine.
• "Our Cast Aways" composed by Julie Giroux will be dedicated to those who rescue innocent animals.

Thank you for your support for our pride concert!

From the disco floor to the Broadway stage, songs of Pride have echoed through the decades. Join the Queen City Freedom Band Sunday, June 9, at 3pm to sing along to iconic medleys from the 70s to today.