MARCH 17, 2006 lust out 39
"This concert really
honors the struggle...
that many of us
came through
with our families."
SPI KIT MOUNTAIN
CASINO
—Bob Mensel
that deal with acceptance. The last couple of songs
within the work, which describe the process of
coming to terms with one’s orientation, affect Mark
so deeply that he has a hard time singing the words.
“I choke up whenever we sing the parts toward
the end, about having accepted and being thrilled
with who you are,” he says.
For Mensel, Metamorphosis is special because it
touches on the theme of family—not the intention­
al family of friends and community, bur nuclear fam­
ily. “This concert really honors the struggle...that
many of us came through with our families," he says.
Dixon Martin, who has been a member of
PGMC since 2001, agrees that this aspect of
Metamorphosis is an important one.
He says: “You grow up in a loving family and
you’re pretty sure you have unconditional love and
support, except for this one condition. There’s some
doubt in some of the songs: If 1 say this one thing,
will 1 ever hear from you again? That was something
1 went through personally in coming out.”
“Grace” is another song that mirrors Martin’s
own experience. It is a dialogue between one man
and God, about falling from grace.
Martin, who was raised in a fundamentalist
church, elaborates: “In coming out, it was kind of
looking at a relationship with a higher power as
something very personal, separate from church or
theology. That’s what the song ‘Grace’ is about.”
Though Metamorphosis is an emotional explo­
ration of serious issues, Martin hastens to add that
people will leave the concert feeling good.
"Metamorphosis is very uplifting,” he says. “In the
end, there’s a song, ‘I Can Fly’, about soaring, over­
coming the problems you’ve had and being able to
reach your potential.... It does show that many of us,
millions of us, have gone through all of the doubt
and the emotion and come out better at the end.”
The experience of rehearsing Metamorphosis
inspired some members of PGMC to form an
independent, voluntary e-mail discussion group as
a way of sharing their own coming-out stories. For
Martin, the forum provided a chance to talk about
certain stages of his coming-out process that he had
never voiced before.
“If 1 was going to sing about these same things
that 1 dealt with, 1 wanted to be honest about how
they related to me personally,” he says.
Mark believes the discussion has given him the
chance to become closer to some of his fellow
chorus members. “In the course of rehearsals,
everyone’s very supportive, but you don’t have a
chance to talk about some of those serious issues
that are on your mind and that the others have on
their minds,” he explains.
As the upcoming concert’s title piece, it is easy
for Metamorphosis to steal the limelight. But the
first half of rhe concert, which features other works
written exclusively for gay men’s choruses, is not to
be overlooked. “Lambscapes” is a satirical piece
composed by Eric Lane Barnes, who has been
called the Cole Porter of gay men’s chorus
composers. And “AIDS Requiem” is a meaningful
five-part work hy Portland composer David York.
Mensel says if is important for the chorus to
perform “art that was written to represent who we
are as gay men and lesbians.” (PGMC has commis­
sioned music from female composers in the past.)
To him, that is part of the strength of the gay
and lesbian choral movement: “One of the things
they’ve been able to do is find new art that better
represents a wider vision of who we are as people.
So many people spend so much rime doing this, it
behooves us as a gay chorus to sing this music.”
Mark agrees: “1 think...having music that was
written for a gay chorus and that has a special mes­
sage for the community is what makes [this
concert] special.’
OrràoM C omv ^ m I iopi Crvtlrr
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The P ortland G ay M en ’ s C horus performs
Metamorphosis 8 p.m. March 25 and 2 p.m.
March 26 at Reed College’s Kaul Auditorium,
3203 S.E. Woodstock Blvd. Tickets $15-$25 from
www.pdxgmc.org.
REBECCA
April 1^-15, Z006
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SFIthwJl
R again is a freedance writer who enjoys
covering Portland’s performing arts community. She
can he reached at reheccaragain@yahoo.com.
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Portland iribune
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