Handel’s Drag Messiah

December 2021

Handel's Drag Messiah is a fresh and fun take on a holiday standard of classical music. Six voice students from the University of Toronto Faculty of Music explore the many layers drag has to offer in a Messiah like you've never seen before (we guarantee!). Each student had the chance to develop an original drag number with the expert guidance of Toronto drag performer Gay Jesus, culminating in a fantastic evening of silliness, beauty, and a whole lot of gender!

This performance was filmed in Tkaronto on the territory of the Anishnaabe, the Chippewa, the Haudenausonee, the Wendat, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Filming took place in accordance with current Covid-19 regulations. OperaQ thanks the University of Toronto Student Initiative Fund and the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies for their generous support, as well as University of Toronto Opera.

Above: Anika Venkatesh in Handel’s Drag Messiah

Our Host and Drag Mentor:

The one and holy Gay Jesus (he/they) is a drag king serving up a mouth-watering communion of Latinx wine and non-binary bread. Born of virgin-ish loins and baptized in sex-appeal, his sermons consist of multidisciplinary protest pieces decked out in draglesque.

In 2019 this sultry saviour received one of his biggest honours to date, a nomination for LGBTQ Person of the Year from the Inspire Awards. You can follow their handle for shenanigans @theirholiness.