For Chaotic Bard Rafael Natan, the desire to elevate Queer visibility to superpower status birthed their new name, Flight Or Visibility. Teaching and performance tours have brought Flight Or Visibility to Europe, Canada, South Africa, and the Republic of Georgia. They have appeared on recordings by Taproots, Anaís Azul, Itai and the Ophanim, Mariel Austin, and Nora Borealis and will be featured on an upcoming album by Evan Greer. Their compositions have been commissioned by the dance company J. Michael Winward Productions and the LGBTQ Chorus Quorum Boston. As a solo performer, Flight Or Visibility specializes in original classical punk music featuring simultaneous violin and vocal textures. Their debut music video, “My Name (is Joanna)” received rave reviews from indie music publications including Boston Hassle and Second Society Report. Classically trained in both the oboe and the violin, Flight Or Visibility feels at home performing a variety of genres including Klezmer, Jazz, Blues, and choral folk music from around the world. 

The founder and artistic director of School of Arts and Social Justice Boston, Flight Or Visibility teaches private workshops on improvisation, creating healing spaces in the arts, and protest chant writing. They direct Wholetone Music Academy’s (WTMA) Georgian Choir and co-direct WTMA’s Healing Arts Ensemble. They also teach violin at North End Music and Performing Arts Center, coach string ensembles at Boston Music Project, and lead songwriting/singing programs in the Boston Public Schools. They previously coached students at Boston Children’s Chorus. Flight Or Visibility holds a BM in Oboe Performance and an MM in Contemporary Improvisation from New England Conservatory. Their teachers include Hankus Netsky, Carla Kihlstedt, John Ferrillo, Laura Ahlbeck, Philipp Naegele, Joe Morris and Eden MacAdam-Somer.

Education:

New England Conservatory
MM Contemporary Improvisation, 2017
Concentration in Music Education
BM Oboe Performance, 2015

Why this name?

It takes a cliched question about preferred superpowers and flips it on its head, acknowledging the fact that visibility is a superpower, especially in LGBTQ+ communities. Visibility helps us advocate for basic human rights. It is a privilege that not everyone has. It is also one that many who do have will not feel comfortable using.

For me, visibility is about telling our stories! There are thousands of ways we can do this and no one way is going to be comfortable for everyone!