Notes

There have been a number of musicians who have transitioned; I met two of them, Jennifer Leitham in a taxi that we shared on the way to an event at the National Press Club when we were there in Washington DC to lobby for the Hate Crime and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act bills and I met pianist Sara Davis Buechner at Fantasia Fair in Provincetown MA.

Sara Davis Buechner just wrote article for the New York Times where she writes about the hardships that she faced when she transitioned here the states.

In the United States, once I came out as Sara, I couldn’t get bookings with the top orchestras anymore, nor would any university employ me.

In Canada, the University of British Columbia in Vancouver hired me for a piano professorship in 2003, and in 2008 I earned tenure. After moving, I was able to marry the Japanese woman who’d been my longtime partner at a wedding before 125 family and friends.
[…]
In 2003 I hadn’t played as a soloist with an American orchestra in nearly five years. But when I crossed the border to Canada, I found plenty of orchestras and recital presenters who were happy to book me. The success of my performing career in Canada has helped me rebuild a reputation back home. I’ve played twice now with the San Francisco Symphony, and also with the orchestras of Buffalo, Dayton, Seattle and others. I am confident I will once again play with the elite groups in Cleveland, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and New York, earning the same good reviews that David Buechner once did. A new generation of conductors, composers, chamber players and music executives has come of age, and they don’t ignore my agent’s calls as their older colleagues once did.

When I heard her play at Provincetown she told us how she had to move to Canada in order to find work. I believe she said that she was teaching at the Manhattan School of Music and New York University, but once she transitioned she had to leave them and go to Canada.

It is sad that here in the U.S. such a talented person as her has a hard time to find.