June 20, 1987
Program Notes
The Windy City Gay Chorus’s third Orchestra Hall program comprises serious works that might be regarded as making up a sort of symphony treating ultimate concerns: after a solemn invocation, a commissioned world premiere (a carefully structured Andante); an extended excerpt from a “dramatic symphony” (a Scherzo); and the first Midwestern performance of a work written for the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus last year (Adagio and Allegro).
History
This evening the Windy City Gay Chorus closes its eighth season with “In Concert 1987.” Numbering over 70 singers, the Chorus gives three concerts annually, including a festive Christmastide concert and an annual Gay Pride Week concert.
Since its founding in 1979, the Chorus has achieved national recognition and garnered critical and audience acclaim for its uncompromising pursuit of musical excellence and dedication to the highest artistic values. Under the baton of founder and Music Director Richard Garrin, the ensemble has performed for both regional and state conventions of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), won first place in the 1984 Johnny Mann Great American Choral Festival, and toured to New York City for a joint appearance with the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus at Avery Fisher Hall in 1982. Other WCGC tour performances have taken place in Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Columbus, Peoria, Minneapolis, Champaign-Urbana, and Denver. In 1984 the Chorus’s musicianship and community contributions were lauded in proclamations by the Mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul, the Illinois House of Representatives, and Chicago’s Mayor Harold Washington, who 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 Windy City Gay Chorus has received substantial recognition from the choral profession and government institutions, including the National Endowment for the Arts, Illinois Arts Council, and City of Chicago Office of Fine Arts. The Chorus is a member of the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses (GALA Choruses), the American Choral Directors Association, and Chorus America. For further information about the ensemble, performances, or auditions, call 871-SING or write Windy City Performing Arts, Inc., 606 West Barry, #216, Chicago, IL 60657.
Windy City Slickers
The Windy City Slickers have been around, in one form or another, since the Chorus’s first season. Again under the baton of founding director Richard Garrin, they add a touch of camp, and touch of sentiment, to Chorus concerts. In addition, they have performed at events whose scale or purpose was better accommodated by the smaller group. Like the full chorus, they demonstrate that when popular music is handled with the care, skill and precision that go into serious repertoire, the result is entertainment at its best.
Windy City Performing Arts 