1000’s of Choral Singers take to the Street in Denver

The 9th quadrennial Festival of Gay and Lesbian Choruses concluded Wednesday night in Denver as the majority of 6000+ delegates poured from the Denver Center for the Performing Arts singing together in 4-part harmony as they walked en masse to the closing party blocks away.  The imagery of singing for social justice while moving out of the concert hall and into the streets was a profound and emotional ending to five days of concerts at the worlds largest GLBTQ arts festival. Mixed, Women’s, Men’s and Youth Choruses within the GALA Choruses community presented newly commissioned works from composers Stephen Schwarz, Jake Heggie, Michael Shaieb and others and enjoyed performances by close to 200 performing choruses and ensembles.  Ranging from non-auditioned groups to celebrated choruses of the highest artistic caliber, performances were routinely greeted with standing ovations for all.  Founded in 1983 following the first Festival at NYC’s Lincoln Center, GALA Choruses was the pioneer choral service organiztion in what is now a world-wide community of gay and lesbian choruses in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia. The marching delegates who brought traffic to a stand-still in downtown Denver were clearly in a mood to celebrate recent victories in full civil rights and to encourage one another in their continuing roles as “cultural warriors.”