Liz Bouk

Liz Bouk grew up in a conservative environment, with "misunderstanding, misattunement, and pain" from his conflicted gender identity.[1] He married his high school sweetheart when they were both 21.[1]

Bouk studied at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.[1] After graduate school Bouk and his husband had a child together.[1] The pregnancy and birth were extremely difficult for Bouk: "I felt drowned and suffocated by cisgendered parenting expectations. My son's existence wasn't the problem, it was all the social norms and expectations surrounding the idea of being a mother that plagued me with anxiety and anger."[1] Bouk initially thought his anger towards casual sexual harassment and the word "mother" was due to being a "staunch feminist"; later the family would stop celebrating gendered holidays.[1]

In 2014, Bouk quit his job, and hoping to boost his career and find himself, moved to Manhattan.[1] Around the same time, in order to feel more comfortable in his body, he started doing yoga and took dance classes. In September 2017 Bouk began to self-identify as a transgender man.[1] He came out to his husband, who was supportive.[1] Bouk doesn't take testosterone (hormone therapy) as part of transitioning because it would change his voice.[1] Bouk wears a tuxedo for concert singing rather than a traditional gown.[1]

In October 2018 Bouk took part in Bumble's worldwide campaign about New Yorkers "discussing their lives and loves".[3]

Before coming out, Bouk sang a series of cabaret evenings featuring famous songs for female characters, by Stephen Sondheim, Kurt Weill, Jason Robert Brown, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Rodgers & Hammerstein, to "become comfortable inhabiting female characters onstage that I might be able to feel more confident in my body in my actual life".[4] Later he focused on female opera characters, “trapped by circumstance, society and gender”.[4]

In May 2018, as part of New York's 2018 Opera Fest, he came out publicly as a trans man in a new opera, Tabula Rasa, a jazz-inspired work presented by the Cantanti Project,[5] from gay composer Felix Jarrar and librettist Brittany Goodwin.[1] The role of dadaist Tristan Tzara was created for Bouk so he could "publicly express [his] new gender identity".[1] It was Bouk's first male role since coming out.[1][6]

In November 2018, Bouk and director Bea Goodwin presented “Mr. Liz Cabaret: Living in the In Between“, a coming of age story and cabaret about Bouk’s coming out process, at Alchemical Studio Lab.[7] For the one-man show they used his journal entries, photos, paintings, and memories.[7] It includes painful episodes of being misgendered.[4] The show returned in February 2019 at New York City’s The Tank.

Following his one-man show, he did the transgender-themed “As One” at Alamo City Opera.[8] “As One” is a newer opera which has already been performed around the world, telling the story with two characters, Hannah Before and Hannah After, who share insights into the transitioning experience.[9] Bouk portrayed Hannah After.[9]

He then did Giacomo Puccini’s “Suor Angelica” and “Gianni Schicchi,” at St. Petersburg Opera.[8] In May/June 2019 he reprised his role in “As One” at Merkin Concert Hall for American Opera Projects and New York City Opera.[10]

In June 2019, Bouk played a featured character in Stonewall, an opera about the 1969 Stonewall riots which had its world premiere in conjunction with Stonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019.[11] Stonewall was commissioned by New York City Opera (NYCO), and features music by Iain Bell, a libretto by Mark Campbell, and direction by Leonard Foglia.[2] Stonewall is the first opera to feature a transgender character written for a transgender singer.[2] Bouk portrays Sarah, a trans woman celebrating the one year anniversary of her transitioning.[12]

• Castrato
• Cross-gender acting
• Feminist views on transgender topics
• List of historical opera characters
• List of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender firsts by year
• Non-binary gender
• Transgender youth
• Transgender history
• Transgender rights in the United States