The BostonGay Men's Chorus is a group of vocalists located in Boston, Massachusetts. The group currently has over 200 members and has been directed by Conductor Reuben Reynolds for over 20 years. The group is heard by over 10,000 audience members per season and has performed across the globe. The chorus performs songs from a wide variety of genres and song selections have been described as "hopeful and optimistic". The chorus has had over 1,600 members during its history and has performed at Carnegie Hall, Symphony Hall, and Jordan Hall.
History
The Boston Gay Men's Chorus was founded in 1982 and began with between 50 and 60 members. Their first performance was part of Boston's Gay Pride Week in the same year. In December 1982, the group performed their first annual holiday concert which attracted over 900 audience members. The group claims to have originally assembled for "aesthetic rather than political purposes," as was described by former Director Lee Ridgeway in an interview. In March 1992, the chorus celebrated its tenth anniversary with a concert at Boston Symphony Hall with the Denver and Washington D.C. gay men's choruses. The chorus was under the direction of Conductor Robert Barney and had approximately 100 members. For this performance, the chorus commissioned Composer Daniel Pinkham's "Down an Amherst Path."
Notable performances
U.S. Conference of Mayors">United States Conference of Mayors">U.S. Conference of Mayors, June 8–11, 2018
The chorus performed at the conference which took place in Boston during Pride Week. This marks the chorus's first time singing at a political gathering. Music Director Reuben M. Reynolds III commented, “coming at the end of Boston Pride Week, this also sets a wonderful example for mayors from around the country of what it means for a city to be truly inclusive of its LGBT community."
The Boston Gay Men's Chorus performed with the Mzansi Gay Choir, which formed in 2015 and is one of the newest gay men's choruses. The joint concert served as a benefit for the Kliptown Youth Program. This performance was part of a larger tour of South Africa during which the Boston Gay Men's Chorus raised money for causes such as HIV/AIDS awareness and support of LGBT youth and asylum seekers.
This concert was the first time a gay men's chorus had been invited by a Catholic institution to perform. However, this milestone was achieved by accident, the organizing professor was not aware this was the case when he arranged the concert, he simply wanted the students in his "Music and Gay Rights" class to see a performance by a gay men's chorus.
The Boston Gay Men's Chorus was the first chorus to tour the Middle East with performances in Ein Gedi, a Kibbutz in Israel, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Istanbul. During the tour, the chorus performed a new composition by Joshua Shank titled "Peace." This piece addressed LGBT equality more directly than most of the other pieces in the chorus's repertoire. Chorus member, Kilian Melloy, reported that the group's reception in the Middle East was widely positive, although the permit for the gay pride parade in Istanbul was revoked and the event was cancelled.
Governor Charlie Baker's First Inaugural Ball, January 8, 2015
This was the first time a gay men's chorus has performed at the inauguration of any republican Governor.
The BGMC was the first gay chorus to perform in Poland. This sparked protest in the country, but the chorus was still able to perform for a sold-out crowd while under police guard.
First performance of a gay chorus with a high school chorus, Belmont, MA, 2004
The BGMC performed with the Belmont High School Chorus in the first performance of its kind. The concert took place in Governor Mitt Romney's Massachusetts hometown and highlighted the debate over gay marriage that was taking place at the time. The concert received a standing ovation and demonstrated the generational difference in opinion that existed surrounding gay marriage.
Awards
2017
The group was awarded The Boston Foundation for Equality Fund Grant, a $10,000 award which the organization plans to use to adapt "A Peacock Among Pigeons," an LGBT themed children's book, into a stage production.
2016
The chorus was awarded the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network's 2016 Excellence Award in Communications, an award that annually recognizes a nonprofit which successfully uses communication strategies to advance its mission. The group was honored as a result of their 2015 tour of the Middle East which "showcased the organization as an agent of social change and demonstrated that music performed by an openly gay male choral group can move audiences to a deeper understanding of LGBT people."
Backlash
Istanbul, 2015
During their tour of the Middle East, the BGMC was forced to find a new venue for their performance in Istanbul after the original venue backed out of its agreement to host as a result of public outcry. The chorus was able to find an alternative venue at Bosphorus University. The following day, the Istanbul pride parade was cancelled and chorus members who planned to march were turned away by riot police.
Poland, 2005
When performing in Poland in 2005, the chorus was forced to seek additional security as a result of protests surrounding their performance.
New Hampshire and Vermont, 1992
In 1992, over 10 years after the chorus's founding, they experienced their first confrontation from protestors in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. About forty protestors assembled outside of the North Congregational Church, one of ten churches who sponsored the performance as part of the AIDS Community Awareness Project. In addition, The Caledonian-Record, a southern Vermont paper published an editorial piece and two advertisements denouncing the performance. During the same tour, a New Hampshire paper, The Dartmouth Review published an editorial piece in which it referred to the chorus as a "traveling sodomy circus." These protests came shortly after Vermont Governor Howard Dean signed a gay rights bill into law.
