December 10, 1988
History
The Windy City Gay Chorus is now in its tenth performance season. Numbering nearly 80 singers, the Chorus traditionally gives three major concerts each year, including a festive “Don We Now” holiday concert, a spring concert featuring lighter repertoire, and a performance during Gay Pride Week at Chicago’s Orchestra Hall.
Since its founding in 1979 by Richard Garrin and the late Jerry Carlson, the Windy City Gay Chorus has achieved national recognition and gained critical and audience acclaim for its continued pursuit of musical excellence and dedication to the highest of artistic values. Under the baton of founding director Garrin, the group has now performed for six conventions of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) at the local, state, and regional levels.
The group won first place in the 1984 Johnny Mann Great American Choral Festival, and toured to New York City in 1982 for a joint appearance with the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus at Avery Fisher Hall. While in New York City, the ensemble was hailed by the New York Daily News for creating a “thorough pleasure in tone, balance, and precision,” with the results described as “positively heroic.”
Other Chorus tour performances have taken place in Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Columbus, Peoria, Minneapolis, Champaign-Urbana, and Denver. Most recently, the Chorus traveled to Washington, D.C., and appeared in concert with the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington. Windy City Gay Chorus will travel to San Francisco to perform with the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus and will attend the Gay And Lesbian Association of Choruses Festival III in Seattle, both in July of 1989.
Windy City Gay Chorus has received substantial recognition from the choral industry and government sources, including current grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Illinois Arts Council, and the City of Chicago Office of Fine Arts. The ensemble has been lauded in proclamations by the Illinois House of Representatives and the mayors of Denver, Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and Washington, D.C., as well as by Chicago’s late Mayor Harold Washington. In his proclamation, Mayor Washington hailed the group as “a unique asset to the cultural life of the city and a source of pride to its citizens, who are devoted to excellence in the performing arts.”
The Chorus is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, the Chicago Music Alliance, Chorus America – Association of Professional Vocal Ensembles, and the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses (GALA Choruses), and is licensed by ASCAP and BMI. For further information about WCGC, performances, or auditions, contact Windy City Performing Arts, Inc., at 606 West Barry, #216, Chicago, IL 60657, or call (312) 728-SING.
Windy City Performing Arts 