June 22, 1991
History
Windy City Gay Chorus finishes its twelfth season with tonight’s performance. The Chorus traditionally presents three major concerts each year: a festive “Don We Now” holiday performance, a spring concert consisting of lighter repertoire, and a formal production during Gay & Lesbian Pride Week at Chicago’s Orchestra Hall. This year, WCGC produced its first commercially-available CD in lieu of a spring concert, and Orchestra Hall was unavailable, due to renovation.
Founded in 1979, the Chorus has achieved national recognition and gained critical and audience acclaim for its continued pursuit of musical excellence. Under Richard Carrin, WCGC has performed (after blind-tape auditions) for the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) many times, won first place in the Johnny Mann Great American Choral Festival, and toured to New York City for an appearance at Lincoln Center’s 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.”
In the past, the Chorus also performed in Champaign-Urbana, Columbus, Denver, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Peoria, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C .. After the Chorus’ July 1989 San Francisco performance, the San Francisco Sentinel said the Chorus was “terrific…impressive and delightful,” while the Los Angeles Frontiers said of WCGC’s Seattle performance later that week: “this group is in a class by itself….It seems a miracle that an amateur group could sound like this.”
WCGC receives substantial recognition from the choral industry and from government sources, including grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Illinois Arts Council, and the City of Chicago Office of Fine Arts. The Chorus has been lauded in proclamations by the Illinois House of Representatives and the mayors of Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Denver, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., as well as by Chicago mayors Harold Washington and Richard Daley. In his proclamation, the late 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.”
For further information about Windy City Gay Chorus, its performances, or about Chorus auditions, contact Windy City Performing Arts, Inc., 606 W. Barry, #216, Chicago, Illinois 60657, or call (312) 404-WCGC. Windy City Performing Arts, Inc. is an equal opportunity organization, and welcomes members of all races, religions, nationalities, genders, and affectional preferences.
Windy City Performing Arts 