Orlando Gay Chorus is celebrating its 35th birthday with two performances this month in Central Florida – one at Sanford’s Ritz Theatre and another in downtown Orlando at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. The show is called “Choral Kaleidoscope,” and it’s a colorful nod to the wide variety of music from across the chorus’s history.
Orlando Gay Chorus Artistic Director Harold Wright says there are many stories behind that musical mosaic. He brought along chorus Member Council President Sandra Lee and Vice President Carol Studer to talk about amplifying and sharing the voices of Central Florida’s LGBTQ community, and how that mission has changed over the years.
As for Sandra Lee, she said her reason for joining the chorus is a common one among chorus members.
“Watching the news and seeing the massacre at Pulse, I just kept seeing people from Orlando Gay Chorus,” she said. “They were just singing or performing everywhere, and you know, me being a gay female…not only was I fearful for them, but I was like, “My gosh, if I'm ever in that area, if my job brings me to that area, I'm going to try out for that chorus. I want to be a part of them!’ And so that's how I became a part of the chorus.”
Carol Studer said that in the chorus, she found a way to express allyship…and sing “I hadn't sung for 28 years, and I always jokingly said, ‘When I retire, I’ll audition for the chorus,’ and [one day] my husband said, ‘They're having auditions tomorrow.’ I said, ‘All right,’ so I went, and to me, it's been a great way to be an ally and to really fight for people's rights…and to get to sing again.”
Studer said she joined up in 2009, and pointed out that about a half dozen people in the chorus have been part of it from the beginning, back in 1990.
“This was really during the height of the AIDS crisis,” she said of the chorus’s beginnings. “Like-minded people were looking for ways to band together, support each other. And so 30-something strangers met at Rollins College for their first meeting to try to decide, can they form a chorus? And they did.”
“A lot of them were afraid to be out, to come out, to have their names in the program, to have their photographs taken” at the time,” added Studer. “It took a lot of courage.”
Artistic Director Harold Wright said the “Choral Kaleidoscope” program reflects favorites from the beginning and chronicles standout performances from then until now.
OGC
“All the songs have been fan favorites, or even chorus member favorites or ‘showstoppers,’ as we like to say, from OGC past,” Wright said.
“We get to do such a huge variety of music,” he added. “And I think our audience members know that they're going to come and even if they don't know the Chorus, they're going to get a mix of serious stuff, some really light, happy, fun stuff, with a sprinkle of maybe choral music that they have heard their whole lives. It's a huge mix, and I really love the variety that we get to perform!”
Studer said it’s about making music, but not only that, acknowledging the special friendships that form within the chorus. “For me, to see people who have learned to live authentically and be who they want to be, and to be able to walk in those doors every week and know that they’re going to be accepted no matter who they love, how they dress, whichever…I have found the most authentic friendships and there’s no price to put on that.”
