WEST HOLLYWOOD—The Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles (GMCLA) is hosting a virtual holiday concert at home for the holidays that streamed Saturday, December 12 at 8 p.m. It was a free one-hour virtual concert featured brand-new performances from chorus members.
GMCLA described the concert as a mixture of ole and new during this pandemic. They created a virtual chorus for new musical numbers that are part of the concert. They were also able to find moments from several holiday concerts from their past.
They will be performing on KCET on December 24 for the annual Los Angeles County Holiday program, which is free to the public. It will be located at the Dorothy Chandler concert hall on 135 N. Grand Avenue.
GMCLA’s mission is “to create musical experiences that strengthen [their] role as a leader among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and performing arts organizations, enrich our member-artists, support LGBT youth, challenge homophobia, and expose new communities to our message of equality. Future free from homophobia and all other discrimination.” Some of their values include community, creativity, excellence, transformation, equality, strength, and expansion.
This group started on July 12, 1979.
“A small group of men opened the doors to a room at the Plummer Park Community Center in Los Angeles (now West Hollywood), waiting and wondering if anybody would show up. They had posted flyers around the neighborhood announcing the formation of a new gay chorus and this night was to be its first rehearsal. To their great surprise, 99 men appeared and a chorus was born. Within three months of that rehearsal, founding director Harold Kjellberg led the group through its first major event: the March on Washington, D.C. and the first national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) concert at the Washington Memorial.”
Sponsors include Hyundai, Wells Fargo, AT&T, Clear Channel Los Angeles, DCA, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, Dwight Stuart Youth Fund, Anawalt, AHF, Kevin Huvane Foundation, City of West Hollywood, Gilead, IAC, Blade, Faring, Rational Vaccines, US Bank, Chappy, Mani Brothers, David Bohnett, Morgan Stanley, City National Bank, and Union Bank.
