In July of 1989, with the rest of the three-year old Portland Lesbian Choir, I carpooled up to Seattle for the third GALA choral festival. GALA is the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses. (Well… the acronym used to stand for that – a few years ago, the organization changed the name to BE the acronym, in recognition that we are far more than ‘lesbian and gay’ these days!) Our thought at the time was, “The Portland Gay Men’s Chorus has been going on and on about this event for months now, we might as well go see what all the fuss is about! We can drive to Seattle. The next one will be in Denver and there’s no way we’re going to Denver!” By the end of that magical week, we were plotting and scheming how to get to Denver. The PLC has never missed a GALA choral festival since, nor has PGMC.
So what made it so special? A women’s chorus workshop with Bernice Johnson Reagon, teaching us to approximate sounding like Sweet Honey in the Rock? The closing ceremony, 3,000 of us forming a ring in a huge outdoor plaza, holding hands as Holly Near stood in the center, leading us in singing “We are a gentle, angry people”? Rehearsing for a women’s festival chorus, meeting singers from all over, realizing the dynamic of diva first soprano and butch second alto was not unique to the PLC? Yes. Yes. And yes!
And singing for each other weeklong. There is no audience like GALA, all of us choral singers, all of us having the same conversation for months. “Who can take the time off work? Who needs financial aid to get there? What can we do to make sure all of us are there who can possibly make the trek?” And the directors – “What should we sing for each other??? What should I pick for us to sing that will showcase who we are, and that no other chorus will also be singing???”
1992, Denver. 1996, Tampa Bay. 2000, San Jose. 2004, Montreal. 2008, Miami. 2012, Denver. 2016, Denver. 2020 – well, we all know what happened to 2020… 2024, Minneapolis. I haven’t missed any of them, singing in one chorus or another. If you are a fan of the Portland Lesbian Choir, or the Portland Gay Men’s Chorus (hopefully both!), then you know what these choruses bring to your life. Sustaining hope, building community, singing for our lives. It’s no accident choral singing originated in spiritual traditions. Converging on a single note of unison thins the barriers between us, making our interconnection so palpable, for singer and audience alike. Converging at GALA strengthens the power of the choruses, an energy we bring right back to you.
We blew the roof off Minneapolis, over 7,000 of us converging in six square blocks. Eight years of drought lifted, singing in unison once again. This screen shot from the GALA Choruses website says it all, the countdown to 2028:
Reid Vanderburgh 