LGBT choruses unite in song in Sunshine State

By Jen Colletta
PGN Staff Writer
© 2008 Philadelphia Gay News

More than 5,000 LGBT singers from around the world came together last week for GALA Choruses’ Festival 2008 in Miami. Of the 130 choruses that participated in the event, five hail from the tri-state area.

The Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus, Anna Crusis Women’s Choir, Harrisburg Men’s Chorus, New Jersey Gay Men’s Chorus and Rainbow Chorale of Delaware all made the trip to the Sunshine State for a week of entertainment and education.

GALA Choruses, the international association of LGBT choruses, celebrated its 25th anniversary this year at the festival, which is held every four years.

Each of the choruses that attended the week-long event had the chance to perform in one of the 15 “concert blocks.”

Albert Fernandez, PGMC vice president of fundraising, said the group’s July 13 half-hour performance before nearly 3,000 audience members was, although daunting, a success.

“Being part of the festival [was] kind of a life-altering experience,” Fernandez said. “Our performance went just fantastic and was extremely well-received. This type of performance really places the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus among the elite gay and lesbian choruses throughout the country because there are many choruses involved in this that are pretty well-known and really produce quality music.”

About 50 members of the Anna Crusis Women’s Choir attended last week’s festival.

Claire Owen, business manager for the group, said that, although the chorus’ July 15 festival performance was in front of a much larger audience than the chorus is used to, members devote just as much time and attention to their other performances as they did to this one.

“They maintained the same standards at all of their performances,” Owen said. “I went to a lot of their rehearsals before the festival performance, and they work hard at everything they do.”

Joe Buches, PGMC artistic director, noted that this year about 60 members attended the festival, many of whom had never experienced a GALA Festival before.

“Everybody who goes to GALA finds it a really memorable experience and a really touching experience,” Buches said. “To get everybody together for the same common goal enhances the morale of the members of the chorus as they’re singing with other like voices. It’s very infectious. I hope they enjoyed themselves and got out of it what they needed to get out of it.”

Members of both choruses also took part in GALA’s 25th anniversary concert celebration July 16, which united choruses from around the country and featured emcees Sweet Honey in the Rock co-founder Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon and her daughter Toshi Reagon, both of whom are renowned singers and civil-rights activists.

Other celebrity appearances throughout the week included singer/songwriter Ann Hampton Callaway, comedian Alec Mapa and singer Ari Gold.

The festival offered more than just entertainment, however; each morning participants had the chance to participate in dozens of workshops that examined a variety of issues that members of an LGBT chorus in varying positions may encounter.

“They had workshops for singers, some for directors, some for people in administrative roles and some for the boards [of directors],” Buches said. “There was really a wide range of workshops for people in all leadership roles. It was kind of hard to keep track of all of our members out of the 5,000 people there, but I’m sure that they attended a lot of these workshops.”

Owen said the Anna Crusis members used the week to learn with and from one another and members of other choruses from around the world.

“[Artistic director] Jackie Corn gave them objectives and directives as to what she wanted them to get out of [the] festival, and I trust in her excellent guidance and direction. I think they’ll now be able to have a refreshed look at their own work.”

Bart Rauluk, spokesperson for GALA Choruses, said the success of the festival increases visibility of the LGBT community and shows individuals who aren’t members of the community that “we’re all normal people, just like them. Of course our main purpose is to get all the choruses together, but we also feel really strongly that the festival recognizes how the GALA Chorus movement has changed and can change culture and society as an important part of the LGBT community,” he said.

Jen Colletta can be reached at jen@epgn.com.