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After COVID Pause, Trans Soprano Performs In Person

San Francisco-based operatic soprano Breanna Sinclairé
JP Lor
/
David Perry & Associates
San Francisco-based operatic soprano Breanna Sinclairé

As California's pandemic restrictions lift, Breanna Sinclairé's June 20 recital in San Francisco’s prestigious Old First Concerts series will be among the first public, indoor, live music events in the city since March 2020.

Breanna Sinclairé fled from a conservative, religious, sometimes abusive family in Baltimore and moved to San Francisco to study opera. She made history as the first transwoman to sing with the San Francisco Symphony and to sing the National Anthem at a professional sporting event – a baseball game between the Oakland A’s and the San Diego Padres.

Ms. Sinclairé was eager to make her professional operatic stage debut in Toronto last year when COVID derailed those plans. As California eases its pandemic restrictions, her June 20 performance in San Francisco’s esteemed Old First Concerts series will be among the first wave of public, indoor, live-audience music events in the city since March 2020.

Ms. Sinclairé’s path has not been easy. She has overcome many hardships, including discrimination and homelessness, to become the opera star she is today. Hear her extraordinary story and amazing voice on this week’s Out in the Bay.

A special Pride Month request: Out in the Bay is participating in Give OUT Day, a national fundraiser for LGBTQ non-profits that runs all June! Please help us bring queer content to The Bay, the state, the USA and beyond. When you give any amount toOut in the Bayvia Give OUT Day, you’ll help us qualify for bonuses on top of your $$s. Bonuses are based on the number of donors, not the dollar amount. So even $10 can make a big impact. Please donate todayand spread the word to help us keep sharing LGBTQ voices with the world. THANK YOU!!

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Eric Jansen is a long-time broadcaster and print journalist. A former news anchor, producer and reporter at KQED FM, San Francisco; KLIV AM, San Jose; and Minnesota Public Radio, Eric's award-winning reports have been heard on many NPR programs and PRI's Marketplace. His print work has been in The Mercury News, The Business Journal, and LGBTQ magazines Genre and The Advocate, among other publications. He co-produced the June 2007 PBS documentary Why We Sing!, about LGBTQ choruses and their role in the civil rights fight.