GALA Choruses

The Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses ("GALA Choruses") is an international association of LGBT choruses founded in 1982. In its inaugural performance 14 choruses performed together in September 1982 in San Francisco as part of the first Gay Games.[1] It aims to foster artistic and organizational development within its member choruses. The association includes almost 10,000 vocalists in over 100 associated choruses singing as male, female and mixed ensembles in a wide variety of styles. GALA Choruses produces a large festival every four years, in addition to a number of smaller annual workshops and conferences.

Festivals

Artistic and business directors of the choruses then in existence envisioned both the San Francisco and New York City events at the first planning meeting in Chicago, Illinois (15–17 May 1981) that set the course for the official founding of GALA Choruses.

Notes

  1. ^ The San Francisco event was called the West Coast Choral Festival. Members of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus organized and ran this event as a forerunner to the larger event planned the following year in New York City.
  2. ^ The New York event was called COAST, which stood for Come Out and Sing Together. It was organized and run by members of the New York City Gay Men's Chorus.
  3. ^ First GALA festival in which a women's chorus, Denver Women's Chorus, performed[2]
  4. ^ Out of forty-four choruses, eight were women's choruses; eleven were mixed choruses[2]
  5. ^ The 2020 Festival was canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Notable member choruses

Chronology of gay choirs in Australia and New Zealand

  • Gay Liberation Quire (men's), Sydney (1981-1987)
  • Melbourne Gay & Lesbian Chorus, founded 1990
  • Sydney Gay and Lesbian Choir, founded 1991
  • Gay & Lesbian Singers (GALS) Auckland, founded 1992
  • Canberra Gay and Lesbian Qwire, founded 1993
  • Gay and Lesbian Singers of Western Australia (GALSWA), founded 1993
  • Adelaide Gay & Lesbian Singers (1996 - 1999)
  • Brisbane Pride Chorus, founded 1998
  • Adelaide Gay & Lesbian Qwire, founded 2001
  • shOUT Youth Chorus, founded 2005
  • Cairns Out Loud Lesbian & Gay Choir, founded 2007
  • Homophones, gay men's chorus in Wellington (2007-2011)
  • LOW REZ Melbourne Male Choir, founded 2008
  • Glamaphones (mixed chorus), Wellington, founded 2011
  • QTas - Tasmania's LGBTIQ Choir, founded 2013

References

  1. Haggerty, George (December 1, 1999). Encyclopedia of Gay Histories and Cultures. Routledge. p. 190. ISBN 978-0815318804.
  2. Ahlquist, Karen (2006). Chorus and Community. University of Illinois Press. p. 250. ISBN 0252072847.
  3. http://galachoruses.org/blog/from-beijing-to-denver-2016/
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