The Non-Conformists, the TransGender/Nonbinary Orchestra

We provide opportunities for professional LGBTQ+ and other marginalized gender & minority composers, performers & arrangers.

Never has there been an orchestral ensemble of & for transexpansive musicians. We will be the first! You will be a part of this!

We are the first and only TransGender Orchestra in the world. 

Our Mission: 1. to entertain you with ravishingly beautiful and cutting edge styles of music performed in unique venues 2. to tell the stories of brave, creative peoples' journeys toward self actualization in a time of great change with serious humor and tasteful eroticism. 

Some of our musical productions will combine live performed music and film at home in Boston and on tour. We will always be fun to watch and fun to listen to! This is not your traditional symphony orchestra!

Join the club of early supporters of this unique ensemble of Trans Musicians with your contribution of any amount!

We support and encourage LGBTQ+ and other marginalized gender & minority composers, performers & arrangers. We'll feature Trans, Non-Binary and Queer artists and the music of composers from these and allied traditions. Here is a sampling of some that we're exploring and that you might hear on our concerts: 

* means we may invite these artists to do guest appearances or collaborations with us! 

*pianist, Sara Davis Buechner (soloist) 

composer, Michael Tippett 

composer, Samuel Barber 

composer, Francis poulenc 

composer, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 

composer, Leonard Bernstein well known for his iconic music for West Side Story and ‘privately’ bi-sexual.

Gian Carlo Menotti, the composer the Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors and 24 other operas 

Billy Strayhorn, openly gay musician who was also a composer & arranger who worked with Duke Ellington 

Eric Satie 

Camille Saint-Saëns 

*Titica (Angolan transgender a transsexual in a Catholic African country where homosexuality is illegal and punishable by hard labour.) 

*CN Lester Her Ensemble (GB)

*Rae Spoon“Rae Spoon is one of the most important musicians working in Canada today.” – Now Magazine 

Angela Morley arranged the music for The Little Prince for the Boston Symphony Orchestra and composed music for many TV shows 

Dee Palmer formerly David Palmer was formerly member of Jethro Tull and is a composer, arranger, pianist, clarinetist of Several symphonic arrangements of note. 

*Mica Levi aka Michachu  composed Under the Skin film score 

*Taul Katz is a Sundance 2023 composer of the music for the Film, Muff

The Musicians

Check out our growing orchestral roster of professional transgender/non-binary performers & learn about our upcoming concerts & other events.

Invest in The Non-Conformists

Violinist & Conductor

Violinist

Bunny Shilakowsky is the founder and first violinist of the Non-Conformists Orchestra and the Shilakowsky String Quartet. Shilakowsky is also an active free-lance violinist and contractor of musicians.  She is equally comfortable conducting orchestras and performing as a  soloist or in a group or ensemble.

Past Performances: In 1994, Mr. Shilakowsky, (original cis male identity) performed as a guest leader (a position leading the violin section) of the London Symphony Orchestra performing recording sessions, tours and performances under music director Michael Tilson Thomas and Sir George Solti, Sir Colin Davis and André Previn in performances with Jessye Norman, Yuri Bashmet, Peter Zimmerman, and Kiri Tekanawa, among others. Upon returning to the USA, Shilakowsky was called to serve as concertmaster for the Bocksch Concerts Production of My Fair Lady, the European Tour with Maximillian Schell.

Shilakowsky is a former concertmaster of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra which was directed by David Stahl, the New Orleans Symphony under Maxim Shostakovich, the Omaha Symphony directed by Bruce Hangen, the Grand Rapids Symphony, directed by Semyon Bychkov, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Las Palmas and the Des Moines Metro Opera Orchestra.

She has also worked with the Boston, Chautauqua and Nashville Symphonies, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Handel-Haydn Society of Boston, and the Opera Company of Boston. Other recent U.S. free-lance work includes guest-concertmaster work with Vermont Symphony, the Granite State Symphony and the Nashua Symphony. 

As solo violinist, Shilakowsky appeared with the New Orleans, Omaha and Charleston Symphony Orchestras, the New England Conservatory and Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestras and in live recitals on NPR Stations in Boston, Omaha and Nashville. She performed recitals in 1999 in Brockton, MA at Temple Beth Emunah, in 1998 at the Newton Free Public Library & Jewish Community Center in Newton, MA, and in Johannesburg & Pietersburg, South Africa.
 

conductor 

Shilakowsky is a sensitive and energetic interpreter of many diverse styles of music and has founded and conducted several community, student and professional orchestras. 
  

Education:

Harris Shilakowsky earned his Bachelor of Music cum laudé from New England Conservatory of Music and a Master's Degree from Yale University. His teachers included Joseph Silverstein, Koichiro Harada, Nancy Cirillo, and Leo Panasevich, David Cerone, Vali Bluttner and Yair Kless, chamber music with Joseph Gingold, Louis Krasner, Rudolph Kolisch, Eugene Lehner, master classes and chamber music with Oscar Shumsky and members of the Tokyo Quartet at Yale. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1955. He is a Tanglewood alumnus, and is an active composer. He has been listed in 'Who's Who in Musical America'. He has taught at several schools, including the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, the Thayer Conservatory @ Atlantic Union College, and The South Shore Conservatory, where he was the head of the string department, and as an adjunct professor at the College of Charleston.

Teacher

Shilakowsky has been teaching violin since he accepted his first student while completing his Bachelor of Music degree.


“I enjoy taking part as performer, conductor, and audience member. I enjoy studying and teaching about all aspects of the repertoire and exploring the beauty and creative genius of the great chamber music…”

 Please email me to talk about music, discuss the violin, to talk about music and education, performance, if you need music for an event or concert or recording. Tell me about yourself, your dream. And how I can help you get there.

violin@Shilakowskyarts.com

 

Gay Pride Playlist (popular dance and party music)

For your special event, wedding or party...I’m working on a fun new uplifting gay party playlist! Most of these will be included for your dancing or just listening pleasure! A small ensemble from the Non-Conformists can be booked for your event! Drop me a line to get more info!

 Hit this link to see the new playlist!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vTWbpUU7lKD8tX0JGYGPMEB52TEK_Rp63wV_RqYJFJJEKwhgnMgyfXJARsD_8DhbxdOrw8z9byCf5Vz/pubhtml?gid=0&single=true

BunnyS Concert Violinist

LGBTQ+ concerts, weddings, recordings sessions