About

The Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles (GMCLA) has been a notable part of the Southern California

Southern California

Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

 performing arts community for over twenty-eight years. Formed July 12, 1979 as a volunteer effort of 99 gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

 men from all over the greater Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 metropolitan area, GMCLA has grown in size, gained professional artistic and administrative staff, toured nationally and internationally, released fourteen CDs, and appeared with numerous stage, film and television celebrities. The Chorus has appeared on several television broadcasts including Will & Grace

Will & Grace

Will & Grace was an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 21, 1998 to May 18, 2006 for a total of eight seasons. Will & Grace remains the most successful television series with gay principal characters...

, The Ren and Stimpy Show

The Ren and Stimpy Show

The Ren & Stimpy Show, often simply referred to as Ren & Stimpy, is an American animated television series, created by Canadian animator John Kricfalusi for Nickelodeon. The series focuses on the titular characters: Ren Höek, a psychotic chihuahua, and Stimpson J. Cat, a good-natured, dimwitted cat...

, Mad TV

Mad TV

Mad TV may refer to:*MADtv, an American sketch comedy television series based on Mad magazine*Mad TV , a 1991 German television station management simulation game*MAD TV , a Greek music channel-See also:...

, and six episodes of Six Feet Under.

Notable Performances

GMCLA became the first gay men's U.S. chorus to tour central Europe in 1991. That historic tour was featured in a documentary entitled "Out Loud" and was broadcast on the PBS television network.

GMCLA became the first gay men's chorus ever to perform for a sitting President of the United States

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

, Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

. In September of 2011, GMCLA sang for President Barack Obama at a fundraiser in West Hollywood, CA.

GMCLA became the first openly gay performers ever to be broadcast nationally over Russian television during their 1999 concert tour (sold out concert in Tchaikovsky Hall, Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

).

GMCLA was the first openly gay chorus to tour South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

 (Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, Uruguay

Uruguay

Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...

, and Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

) in 2006, performing at some ot the continent's most revered theatres and concert venues. Repertoire included North American and European classical and popular music from Bacharach to Verdi, as well as new works commissioned for the tour by Daniel Catán

Daniel Catán

Daniel Catán was a Mexican composer of Russian Sephardic Jewish descent known particularly for his operas and his creative friendship with the tenor Plácido Domingo.-Career:...

, Rosephanye Powell, and Daniel Alfonso. New music for the Tour was funded by the National Endowment for the Arts

National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...

, the James Irvine Foundation

James Irvine Foundation

The James Irvine Foundation is a philanthropic nonprofit organization established to benefit the people of California. It seeks to promote social equity and enrich the cultural and civic life of America’s most populous state through its grants in three areas: the arts, youth and education, and...

, and Los Angeles County Arts Commission. In each of the four countries, the Chorus raised money for LGBT and HIV organizations, as well as helping to start the first gay chorus in South America, to be based in Rio de Janeiro.

Each year the Chorus prepares three main concerts, each performed four times in the historic landmark Alex Theatre, Glendale, California

Glendale, California

Glendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population is 191,719, down from 194,973 at the 2000 census. making it the third largest city in Los Angeles County and the 22nd largest city in the state of California...

, and has performed over 100 times on the Alex stage since 1994, more than any other musical group in the theater's history.

In 2010 GMCLA recorded a video as part of the It Gets Better

It Gets Better

It Gets Better is an Internet-based project founded in the United States by Dan Savage and his husband Terry Miller on September 21, 2010, in response to the suicides of teenagers who were bullied because they were gay or because their peers suspected that they were gay...

 campaign in support of gay and lesbian teens. Singer LeeAnn Rimes joined the Chorus in December 2010 for a series of concerts titled "Comfort and Joy" also addressing bullying and teen suicides.

External links

• Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles Official website