I am sticking my head back into the blogosphere to congratulate the Boston Gay Men's Chorus, who gave a tremendous concert today. I was looking around last month for a concert I could share with my college singers, and since the title of today's program was "Seize the Day!" and we sang that song last year, I thought it would be a great show to take them to. I also knew that the BGMC often has a Broadway bent, and lots of my kids like Broadway, so it seemed like a great fit. I had no idea how right I was!
I didn't think anything was going to be able to top Ricky Ian Gordon's multi-movement work Only Heaven, settings of the poetry of Langston Hughes that was arranged for the BGMC and also stunningly danced by two great dancers, Christian Bufford and Bradley Gibson. This is a work that people should absolutely look into (solo sopranos, it was originally a song cycle for you!) Kudos are also due to the Wellesley High School Select Choirs, who sang in the middle of the show. But Stephen Schwartz's work Testimony, based on words from the It Gets Better Project, was definitely the high point for me - it brought me to tears. It was written for the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus, whose performance is in the video below. Hearing a stage full of hundreds of gay men singing full-throated and full-hearted "It gets more than better, it gets amazing and astounding" was a really powerful moment. The concert is over now, as today was the last performance, but you can hear "Testimony" below and you can go to the BGMC's next performance! I was very impressed at their professionalism and quality; they really assembled a program that perfectly played to their strengths and had a powerful emotional impact. Bravo, guys!
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