G M C is about to turn 20, and fun is some
thing it plans to indulge in throughout its
upcoming anniversary season.
The season gets under way Dec. 17 with its
holiday concert, With Family fo r the Holidays,
and concludes in mid-July 2000 with G ala!
G ala!, a special celebration of pride featuring
the Portland Lesbian Choir and Bridges.
In April, PGM C premieres Millennium
M osaic, a new commission by its former direc
tor David York, and an encore of N akedM an, a
world-renowned song cycle composed from the
experiences of members of the San Francisco
Gay Men’s Chorus. The season also includes an
adults-only cabaret and a classical recital.
“W e’re not celebrating the anniversary with
a specific concert,” Mensel says. “W e’re looking
i at the whole season as a celebration.”
And there’s plenty to celebrate. For an arts
organization that depends on the often fickle
good will of its audience and the philanthropic
community, reaching the ripe old age of 20 is
something of an anomaly. For a queer group to
have successfully weathered the political and
emotional turbulence of the past 20 years is
amazing.
“I believe the chorus has aged rather grace
fully, and nicely,” says Mensel. “W e’ve done a
good job at changing with the times.”
Still, Mensel isn’t about to rest on PG M C ’s
laurels.
“I’d like to see us collaborate with more arts
groups, and look at our ability to record,” he
says. “I’d also like to see us do material that’s
marketable outside of the gay community.”
P
PG M C presenting a holiday concert in the m id-1980s
SINGING FOR
\~A
m
fo r 20 years and counting,
die PortCand Qay M en's Chorus has provided a sense
o f community that sustains its memeSers —
by
P atrick C ollins
t’s All Saints Day. Evening sets in an hour
earlier than it did the week before. The rush-
hour traffic on Northeast Broadway suhsides,
and a cool, damp breeze coaxes even more
leaves from the trees into the gutter. Huddled
against the wind, a dozen or so men gather on
the stairs at the side entrance to the Metropoli
tan Community Church of Portland, where
they enjoy a quick smoke prior to the weekly
rehearsal of the Portland Gay Men s Chorus.
I
The reasons they offer
for singing with the chorus are not
at all surprising. T h ere’s a sense of communi
ty you don’t find in other choral groups, says
one man, and several others nod in agree
ment. T h e music is more meaningful, says
another. And there’s more talent in this cho
rus than in most others. All good reasons to
join a queer group of any sort.
T he door at the top of the stairs opens and
the start of rehearsal is announced by a faceless
voice from within the church. The cigarettes
are extinguished and the singers hustle up the
stairs and take their seats among the 80 to 90
other men in a fan-patterned layout of folding
metal chairs arranged according to vocal range:
first and second tenors, baritones, and basses.
Up front— armed with a pencil, sheet
music, and a presence that is formidable even
though he is dressed this evening in sweat
pants and a white T-shirt— stands PG M C’s
artistic director Bob Mensel.
“I don’t have a microphone tonight,” he
says, and the chorus applauds. Mensel com
mands them to rise from their chairs
and leads them through a regimen of
stretching and breathing exercises
that would do any aerobics instruc
tor proud. Then comes the group
shoulder massage, followed by
humming and more Mensel-
directed breathing. The piano
chimes in. A few notes into
the scales, Mensel halts the
chorus and instructs his
singers to divide their half steps
into eight equal increments.
“Much better!” he shouts the
next time through, and snaps his
fingers with the conviction of a
seasoned drag queen. “Now, isn’t
that fun.r’
Bob Mensel,
PGMC artistic
director
ary Coleman, 48, was there at the begin
ning, in 1980, when PGM C was bom over
a few beers and plenty of enthusiasm at a
Portland bar. He currently sits on PG M C’s
board of directors, serving as membership chair.
He is also PG M C ’s historian.
“W hen we first started, it wasn’t that kosher
to be that out,” he says, noting that the word
gay has always been a part of the chorus’s title,
which is not necessarily the case with queer
choirs in several other cities. “Just being out in
public was great. In the
1980s we were into
being ourselves and
breaking the mold
and being very
out. But that
was before the
epidemic.”
B
Continued
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