The Philadelphia Gay Men's Chorus Celebrates 25 Years

25 years ago there was a dream of gay men uniting around the performance of creative and challenging music that would entertain and inspire and also affirm a spirit of friendship and hope. Over the last two decades the Philadelphia Gay Men's Chorus has realized the dream and accomplished many other great milestones.

Throughout their history, the Chorus has sung at local community events, political fundraisers, pledge drives and commitment ceremonies. The PGMC was founded in 1981 by Gerald Davis, starting off with just four members. During the first year, the Chorus would go caroling in the bars. Growing quickly, the ensemble gave its first formal concert on April 25th, 1982. Throughout the 80's, the they continued to expand, becoming incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1990. That March, the Chorus made its debut at the Academy of Music, performing with Heart Strings, a touring AIDS benefit group that featured such talents as Sandy Duncan and Jason Bateman.

In 1992, the Chorus began to carol in local hospitals, demonstrating the increased acceptance of LGBT groups in Philadelphia. PGMC recorded their debut CD, "The Spirit Says Sing", in 1997. In December of that same year, the PGMC became the first gay musical group to sing in Council Chambers at Philadelphia's City Hall. Other notable moments included performing at an award ceremony for Sir Ian McKellan in 2000, performing at the opening ceremonies of the new National Constitution Center in Philadelphia in July of 2003, and opening for a sold-out Joan Rivers show last October.

The camaraderie within the group contained within the group is unbound by gender, economic, social or sexual status. The chorus has a wide variety of people, including teachers, doctors, massage therapists, executives, real estate agents, lawyers and IT Professionals. There are gay men, straight men, straight women and lesbians. There is one common thread: their love of singing.

The Artistic Director, Joseph J. Buches, has been with the chorus since September 2004. "I sang with the PGMC in the early 90's so I knew of PGMC's fine reputation and wanted to be part of that organization in a leadership role and a clear vision and I felt that I could bring a new perspective to the chorus that would help bring them to the next level of becoming a vibrant performing organization within the city of Philadelphia and beyond."

There is unanimity within the chorus when asked what they would like to see the chorus do in the future. They would all love to expand their organization into a second group, much like The Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, who works with designing GLBT theatrical productions. They would be able to serve the community artistically in more ways than one and combine their talents to appeal to the vocal and performance artists in the community. Imagine that! Gay men involved with theater! It's an outrageous idea that just might work.

The Philadelphia Gay Men's Chorus kicks off their 26th season with a bang! It starts off on October 12th and 13th for their Benefit Concert entitled Showstoppers! This fall cabaret performance is a benefit fundraiser to raise money for PGMC to attend the GALA festival in Miami in July, 2008. Members of PGMC will perform solo and group acts from stage and cinema that are sure to move you to your feet!

This will be followed by their Holiday concert Fruitcake...and Other Holiday Delights on December 7th and 8th. With their holiday concert last year being a sell out, history is bound to repeat itself, so be quick when buying tickets! Get them as soon as possible!

Their March concert DIVAlicious on March 7th & 8th, will remind you just how gay men love their divas! This is your chance to hear tunes form Liza Minnelli, Barbara Streisand, Bette Midler, Judy Garland and more.

The PGMC will finish up the year with a huge, spectacular concert in June called The Circle of Our Lives-Music That Unites on June 14th. It will be the launch performance to the GALA gay choral festival in Miami. It will offer a smorgasbord of tunes sung by all the amazing regional talent. PGMC will be performing "Changing Hearts," which explores the impact of the gay choral movement on our society. They will also be joined by Philadelphia Voices of Pride, Lehigh Valley Gay Men's Chorus, Central Pennsylvania Womyn's Chorus, as well as many more fabulous choral groups from the tri-state area.

The final performance of the year will be at the GALA Choruses Festival 8 in Miami, July 12 to 19, 2008. GALA is rather like the Olympics for the choral world. Choruses from around the world all meet in one city every four years, not to compete, but to perform and show their fellow choruses what they can do. It is the largest GLBT performing arts festival in the world. GALA Choruses, simply put, fosters the artistic and organizational development of member choruses through a wide variety of programs and services.

The PGMC is filled with a diversified group of people who all come together as a community, united around the performance of music that not only entertains, but inspires. Ever since its conception, the chorus has done nothing but improve and get better with every season. The 2007-2008 season is shaping up to be its best yet, so don't you dare miss out!

PGMC timeline
1981: While
everyone was drooling over Rick Springfield, the PGMC was founded.

April 25, 1982: The PGMC's
first formal concert took place, in between everyone crying over "E.T."

May 1987: No one put baby in a corner! '87 brings us Dirty Dancing and the PGMC performed their first out-of-state concert with Baltimore Men's Chorus.

1992: The PGMC did an AIDS benefit, "Song for Life," with Sally Starr and Juanita Holiday right in between "I'm Too Sexy" and "Baby Got Back."

May 1993: Mariah Carey was establishing her star power and gay fanbase the same year the PGMC opened at Philly's very first Pridefest.

December 1997: The PGMC made local history as the first gay musical group to sing in Council Chambers at Philly's City Hall as "Titantic" swept the nation.

2000: The year the iPod was first issued, the PGMC sang at Schoenberg's Survivor from Warsaw with Mendelssohn Club at Academy
of Music.

June 2006: While the PGMC made their debut at Perelman Theater in Kimmel Theatre, Britney Spears was embarking on her K-Fed downfall.

October 2006: The PGMC gained even more notice after opening for Joan Rivers at the sold-out Keswick Theatre as the one billionth song was purchased from iTunes.