- Music delights.
- Music soothes.
- Music entertains.
- Music educates.
- Music unites.
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- Over the past 25 years, a special
form of music has been bringing people together in America's
urban centers. The gatherings are unique In that the music is
an amalgam of classic and contemporary choral music, the performers
are male, and those performers proudly identify themselves as
gay.
The genesis of these Choruses Was reactive: to society's perceptions
and censures; to disenfranchisement in the body politic and certain
religion's intolerance; and, above all, to a health crisis of
a magnitude not seen since the close of World War I.
AIDS overwhelmed America, its gay populations, and disproportionately,
the arts as many of our brightest and most talented succumbed
to the ravages of the syndrome. The gay choral movement became
a safe haven for information, support, psychic and physical healing
and action. The Chorus became a very large extended family.
- The New York City Gay Men's Chorus (NYCGMC) came into being
during this time, and, with the realization that the whole was
greater than the sum of its parts, took on a life and power of
its own. Moving from a novelty act to a mainstream performing
arts group, NYCGMC, since its founding in 1980, has become a
musical force in New York City and beyond.
NYCGMC now comprises 250 voices, performing three (3) separate
concerts each year, moving between Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln
Center and Carnegie Hall. Affirming their world-class status
is a raster of classical and contemporary artists who have graced
the stages with the Chorus: Marilyn Home, Roberta Peters, Liza
Minnelli, Stephen Sondheim, Barbara Cook, Betty Buckley, Eartha
Kitt, Joel Grey - to name just a few. Additionally, the chorus
performs at many smaller concerts and events throughout the year,
including benefits for community organizations such as the Gay
Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids.
NYCGMC Is the longest-standing member of Big Apple Performing
Arts, Inc. (BAPA), and their shared mission is, as a gay-identified
organization, to entertain and educate our audiences and ourselves
and to make a positive contribution to the entire community.
We achieve this purpose by serving as an umbrella for developing
and managing performing groups and individual performers.
- BAPA is a 501-c-3 nonprofit organization, which in addition
to the NYCGMC, currently present the 24-voice Ambassadors, and
the pop-cabaret ensemble Uptown Express. In 2003, BAPA and the
NYCGMC, together with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender
Community Center of New York City, are presenting the Youth Pride
Chorus (YPC). YPC is made up of 14-to-21-year-olds identifying
as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered individuals, and their
allies, and is the first chorus of its kind to be presented by
an established adult chorus.
BAPA and its associated groups are members of GALA, the international
gay and lesbian association of choruses (www.galachoruses.org).
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NYC GMC Biography
- The New York City Gay Men's Chorus
has been acclaimed by America's leading music critics as a men's
chorus of outstanding musical accomplishment, and has established
itself as a cornerstone in the musical life of New York City,
bearing a message of freedom and equality. The NYCGMC engages
leading composers to illuminate its mission, including John Corigliano,
David Costa, William Bolcom, Libby Larsen and Ned Rorem, among
many others. This commitment to new music has led to over 50
premieres, which invigorate and enlarge the repertory; the chorus'
latest recording, Gay Century Songbook, features three
such commissions composed by Larry Grossman, Picky Ian Gordon,
and Robert Seeley. The prestigious Carnegie Hall and Lincoln
Center regularly host the NYCGMC. Besides its subscription series,
the Chores also performs with such major symphony orchestras
as the Boston Pops, New York Philharmonic, American Symphony
Orchestra, and Brooklyn Philharmonic. Frequent appearances on
television and at local community events raise the level of acceptance
for openly gay performers; the NYCGMC has brought its musicianship
and professionalism worldwide with inspiring concerts in many
European and American cities.
- Featured guests with the Chorus have included stars of the
operatic and theatrical stage, motion pictures, television, pop
music, cabaret, and print media (with Oscar, Tony, Grammy and
Emmy winners), who most frequently lend their talent and energy
to fundraising benefits for NYCGMC's AIDS Outreach Committee,
making for New York's hottest ticket.
- For information about events, auditions, and non-singing
memberships open to both women and men, write the NYCOMC at Big
Apple Performing Arts, Inc., 1133 Broadway Suite 1001, New York,
New York, 10010, visit our web site or call (212) 242-1777.
- Jeffrey Maynard joined the New York City Gay Men's Chorus
as Artistic Director in 2001. In his first year u Artistic Director,
Jeffrey increased the size of the chorus to almost 200 men, increased
the level of community outreach of the Chorus, particularly in
the wake of September I l, and conducted the New York premiere
of Music for Michael 'Mouse' Tolliver. Prior to joining
NYCGMC, Jeffrey spent four years as Artistic Director of the
Gateway Men's Chorus in St. Louis, Missouri, where he conducted
the Midwest premieres of Naked Man and Music for Michael 'Mouse'
Tolliver. Under Jeffrey's direction, the Gateway Men's Chorus
produced its first commercial CD, recorded in Powell Symphony
Hall.
- In addition to working with Gateway Men's Chorus, Jeffrey
also worked for the St. Louis Symphony Chorus as a soloist,'
Assistant Chorus Director, and Section Leader. His solo work
with St. Louis Symphony includes covers of Orff's Carmina
Burana, and Vaughn William's Sea Symphony, in addition
to solo roles in Bach's ,Vt. Matthew Passion and Beethoven's
,4 Choral Fantasy at the farewell performance of Leonard
Slatkin. As Assistant Choral Director, be prepared Johann Strauss'
Die Fledermaus, Brahms' , A German Requiem,
and Carmina Burana. Jeffrey also served as the Music Director
of Nerinx Hall High School in Webster Groves, Missouri for nine
years. His women's choirs continually won Gold medals at both
National and International competitions, as well as performing
a successful concert tour through Germany, Austria, and Italy.
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- SPECIAL
PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS
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- Three highly-successful
European tours
Sold-out salutes to Stephen Sondheim, Cole Porter, Jerry Herman,
and Leonard Bernstein
Featured in the HBO Documentary Film, Being Homosexual,
and the PBS specials Walt Whitman and Salute
to Oscar Hammerstein.
The Today Show
The American Symphony Orchestra with special guest Al Gore
GMHC's "Mack and Mabel" in-concert benefit with Jerry
Herman and Tony-award-winners Harvey Fierstein and Marisa Jaret
Winokur ("Hairspray")
Hillary Rodham Clinton's birthday celebration
First Lesbian/Gay Chorus to perform in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln
Center and Kennedy Center as well as for the American Choral
Directors Association convention
A COMMITMENT TO
COMMISSIONING NEW MUSIC
- The NYCGMC significantly
increased the men's chorus repertoire by aggressively commissioning
and premiering over fifty pieces of new music from some of Americas
most distinguished composers, including: Daniel Pinkham, Conrad
Susa, Libby Larsen, David Conte, Dan Locklair, Ned Rorem, John
Corigliano, John David Earnest, Robert Seeley, Roger Bourland,
William Bolcom, and many others. Serving to significantly increase
the men's chorus repertoire.
A COMMITMENT TO
HELPING OTHERS
- As part of its community
outreach, the Chorus provides hundreds of complimentary tickets
each year to numerous AIDS Service Organizations, gay/lesbian
youth agencies, and senior centers throughout the City. These
include: GMHC, Bailey House, God's Love We Deliver, Roberto Clemente
Center, Lesbian/Gay Community Services Center, Herrick-Martin
School (formerly the Harvey Milk School), OUTRIGHT - New York,
SAGE, SOLO, and many others. Each year the chorus also awards
an AIDS Outreach Grant to a small AIDS Service Organization in
the tri-state area that provides direct services to persons living
with HIV/AIDS.
JOINT GALA AND CELEBRITY
CONCERTS
- The NYCOMC has performed
jointly with many GALA choruses, including: the Stonewall Chorale;
Lavender Light: The Black and People of All Colors Lesbian and
Gay Gospel Choir; Seattle Men's Chorus; The Gay Men's Chorus
of Los Angeles; Boston Gay Men's Chorus; San Francisco Gay Men's
Chorus; Windy City Gay Chorus; Noot an der Mann (Amsterdam);
Schola Cantorosa (Hamburg); Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, DC;
Portland (Oregon) Gay Men's Chorus; Denver Women's Chorus, and
Sound Circle.
The Chorus has also appeared on Channel Thirteen's In the
Life, Sunday Today, Entertainment Tonight, Nightwatch, The
Joan Rivers Show, Mostly Mozart at Lincoln Center, Main Stage
Performers' Rally at the 1987 March on Washington, the inauguration
of New York City Mayor David Dinkins, and the first celebrity
AIDS benefit: The Best of the Best at the Metropolitan Opera
House (1985).
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The New York
City Gay Man Chorus
