Lip-synching Lieder

The name ‘Aria Cuntata is made up of two Italian words: aria refers to a solo vocal piece with orchestral accompaniment, while cuntata is the past participle of the old Italian cuntare meaning to tell (a story).
 

Conceptual drag queen ‘Aria (pronounced “Mariah” as in “Carey” without the “M”, not “aria” as in “recitative and aria”) is using her highly questionable taste to bring joy, exuberance and just the wrong amount of trash to a collection of contemporary classical music, a genre that isn’t often mentioned when talking about drag. Like, we’re still waiting for the Contemporary Music challenge in RuPaul’s Drag Race…

Lip syncing isn’t just for drag shows but it could add a bit of spice to every Liederabend. But it isn’t just about frocks and fabulousness, it’s also about serious subjects like climate change, peculiar German customs and the import/export statistics of Germany’s biggest port in Hamburg.

This new album by Difficult Listening is based on the stage show of the same name, blowing a gust of fresh queer air into the world of classical music with singing, dancing, stories, films and lots of music by Michael Wolters, Poor Northern, Kunling Liu and Luke Harrison. 

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