Transgender musician makes waves with voice, violin

[Shana A]

Transgender musician makes waves with voice, violin
Tona Brown diversifies classical scene in Baltimore, beyond
May 22, 2011|By Tim Smith, The Baltimore Sun

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-05-22/features/bs-ae-tona-brown-20110521_1_transgender-woman-tona-brown-violin

On a YouTube video, Tona Brown is first seen playing some Bach on the violin. Then she breaks into song, delivering "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" in a full-throated mezzo-soprano voice.

That Rodgers and Hammerstein classic makes a particularly fitting anthem for Brown, who has faced her share of hurdles. None of them, it seems, have fazed this transgender musician who moved to Baltimore about a year ago.

"You can't tell me I can't do something," Brown says with a broad smile, interviewed on a warm afternoon in the rowhouse she shares with a roommate half a block from Lake Montebello.