Catch up with this month's news from GALA Choruses, the nonprofit membership association leading the LGBTQIA+ choral movement in the Americas.
Symposium 2027 Registration Opens Aug. 1
Choral leaders, don't miss our early bird pricing to join our weekend of learning, networking and inspiration! Mark your calendars and keep an eye on our website for more information coming soon.
Submit Your Symposium Workshop Proposal
Share your valuable knowledge with your peers and shape the conversation at Symposium! We encourage anyone with interest to submit their idea, including those with diverse experience. Workshops can be 60 or 90 minutes; accepted presenters will receive a modest stipend. Proposals are due by August 31!
Festival is Just Over Two Years Away!
We're nearly halfway to GALA Festival 2028! Keep an eye on our website, social media, and your inbox July 12-15 for our first release of key information, including key dates and resources for promoting and planning for Festival with your chorus.
Seeking Communications / Nonprofit Intern
We're offering a part-time, paid Communications & Nonprofit Management Internship for the fall semester. Applications are due by July 17; please share the posting with anyone you know who'd be interested!
GALA Booth at NAfME
Next April, the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), formerly MENC, will hold its Eastern Division conference in Providence, RI. The conference will feature an exhibit hall and we have an opportunity to reserve a booth to promote the member ensembles in GALA Choruses. The cost of the booth is $1000, and we are asking 10 ensembles to contribute $100 to cover the cost. Your ensemble can send brochures and swag to our booth organizer (TBD) for display. This is a great opportunity to spread the word about LGBTQIA+ and allied ensembles to an audience of musicians who might not be aware of us. If you are interested in participating, please contact Paul Heins (cpheins@gmcw.org) by September 15, 2026.
Los Angeles: Join Us for California Sings! A GALA Choruses Celebration! on September 19
California Sings! A GALA Choruses Celebration! brings together LGBTQ+ choruses from across the region for a joyful celebration of music and community in Los Angeles. Each participating ensemble will present its own featured performance, highlighting the diversity, artistry, and spirit of our movement. The event will conclude with a special collaborative finale, as singers from every chorus unite for one unforgettable shared performance. Don’t miss this exciting new GALA tradition in the making!
Member Corner
Featured Members
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Calgary Men's Chorus
Founded in 1994, the Calgary Men’s Chorus (CMC) is an inclusive TTBB chorus based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with 68 singers. We've been GALA members since 1997! This year, CMC celebrated 31 years of choral music with 2 successful concerts and premiering a new commission at the 2026 Unison Festival. We also received the 2025 Hero Award from the Chinook Fund Lasting Legacy.
Best Highlight of the Past Year
Founded in 1994, the Calgary Men’s Chorus (CMC) is an inclusive TTBB chorus based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with 68 singers. We've been GALA members since 1997! This year, CMC celebrated 31 years of choral music with 2 successful concerts and premiering a new commission at the 2026 Unison Festival. We also received the 2025 Hero Award from the Chinook Fund Lasting Legacy.
Sine Nomine
Sine Nomine, founded in 2006, is based in Denver, Colorado, with 36 SATB singers and has been a GALA member for twenty years. Directed by Frank Perko III and accompanied by Lori Hermansson, the chorus focuses on performing the words and music of contemporary artists, showing that "where words fail, music speaks." (Hans Christian Andersen) Sine Nomine communicates a message of inclusion and transformation, striving to create a community where all belong and all are welcome.
Sine Nomine was "born" during a break at the 2004 GALA Festival in Montreal, when a group of singers in several Denver choruses created the vision for an SATB chorus, singing the work of living composers and writers, focused on the quality of the music as much as the message the music conveys. Twenty years later, we have performed more than 350 beautiful songs and 47 wonderful concerts. We have traveled to New York to perform at Carnegie Hall (premiering a work by composer Kevin Padworski) and to Dallas to sing with the Turtle Creek Chorale. We have collaborated with nine GALA choruses in Colorado, and we have participated in commissioning nine original works. We have attended four GALA festivals. We are kicking off our 20th anniversary season in August, and will celebrate with November and May concerts proclaiming "Why We Sing!"
Welcome to Our Newest Members!
Coro Queer Chile: the first LGBTQIA+ choir in Chile when they began in 2022, Coro Queer Chile has more than 50 SATB singers today and is led by Benyamil Giacaman (he/they), President and Executive Director, and Axel Holm (he/they), Vice President and Artistic Director, in Santiago.
Gulf Coast Unity Chorus: founded this year by former members of the Atlanta Gay Men's Chorus, Robert Bell and Tommy Strickland, the Gulf Coast Gay Men's Chorus is starting rehearsals with 15 TTBB members in Pass Christian, MS. Their membership returns Mississippi to the list of US states with a GALA chorus!
Queerscendos: this SATB youth chorus founded in 2025 and supported by the Columbus Gay Men's Chorus provides a safe, affirming space to eight talented LGBTQIA+ singers within Ohio's capital city, under the leadership of Gabriel Gonzales (he/they) and Jared Brayton Bollenbacher (he/him).
Trans Community Chorus of Metro DC: after a successful inaugural concert with 28 trans and non-binary singers in May of this year, artistic director Lee Swanson officially formed this group based in Arlington, VA.
Member-Sponsored Opportunities
- The newly forming Trans Community Chorus of Metro DC (TCCMD) is seeking one to two music directors for fall 2026. This position is open to people of all gender identities. Rehearsals will take place in Arlington, Virginia. More information is available here.
- The Buffalo Gay Men's Chorus, in celebration of their 25th anniversary season, is seeking proposals for new organizational logos for BGMC, the Nickel City Treble Makers, and a new umbrella parent company. Submissions are due by July 31, 2026 (RFP; Guidelines).
- In celebration of 40 years of music, Womansong is hosting a songwriting contest, "Songs of Joy, Justice, and Community" open to songwriters who identify with the women's experience based in Western North Carolina. Submissions are due by October 1; more information is available here.
- Don't forget to check our member job board for other work opportunities!
News Across the GALA Community
- On June 13, 2026, ANNA Crusis Feminist Chorus and the Lavender Light Gospel Choir co-hosted the Unstoppable: Fierce and Free concert in Philadelphia.
- The Atlanta Gay Men's Chorus, Atlanta Women's Chorus, Gay Men's Chorus of Washington DC, and OurSong Atlanta were represented at the Various Voices Festival in Brussels this past weekend. Congratulations to all on a fantastic performance, and to our partners at LEGATO on a successful festival!
- The Buffalo Gay Men's Chorus received the IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access) Award from the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in recognition of your ongoing commitment to building community through music, advocacy, and visibility! Watch Artistic Director Dr. Robert Strauss's acceptance speech here.
- Some of our Florida members came together for two major events in honor of the 10th anniversary of the Pulse nightclub mass shooting. The Orlando Gay Chorus, Diversity: The Voices of Sarasota, and the Gay Men's Chorus of Tampa Bay performed a moving rendition of Melissa Etheridge's "Pulse" at the Pulse Remembrance Ceremony on June 12, 2026. And on June 19, the Gay Men's Chorus of South Florida —with the Gay Men's Chorus of Tampa Bay, Miami Gay Chorus, and the Symphony of the Americas —premiered "Amor Eterno: A Requiem for Pulse" by noted composer Saunder Choi honoring the victims of the shooting.
- The Empire City Men's Chorus premiered two commissions at their June 12 & 14 concerts: Shawn Crouch's "Tunnel Rats," exploring courage, brotherhood, and survival through the voices of Vietnam War veterans, and Zoe Yost's "House of Eternity," declaring friendship and creative companionship to be eternal and inseparable through the words of poet and artist William Blake.
- The GenOUT Youth Chorus and Major Minors youth choruses are collaborating to put on a Youth Jamboree concert in Asheville, NC on July 16-18, 2026.
- Following the retirement of the legendary Dr. Stan Hill, the Modern Men: Coachella Valley Men's Chorus has selected Evan Miles as their new artistic director.
- Pride Chorus Houston's June 20th concert, "Make Your Own Kind of Music," featured collaborations with Indie pop singer/songwriter Marielle Kraft and Japanese drumming ensemble Kaminari Taiko.
- Long-time artistic director of the Salt Lake Men's Choir, Dennis McCracken, conducted his last concert on June 12 & 13 before retiring from his position of 20 years.
- The San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus has chosen nationally recognized arts, philanthropy, and nonprofit leader Lane Sugata to become their next CEO, succeeding Chris Verdugo.
- VOICES of Kentuckiana announced Mason Rice as their new Artistic and General Director after serving the past season as Associate Artistic Director. Mason succeeds Kimcherie Lloyd, who will remain with VoK as their Artistic Partner and Principal Guest Conductor.
Submit Your Updates for the Next Newsletter
GALA Highlights
Queer Voices | Ep. 2.11 | Interview on the Pauli Murray Commission with Steve Milloy & Lori Tennenhouse
Steve Milloy, composer of GALA's latest commission "Sincerely Yours: Pauli Murray" and artistic director of the San Diego Gay Men's Chorus, and Lori Tennenhouse, artistic director of the Grand Rapids Women's Chorus who recently performed the piece, discuss the nuances and impact of the work and its inspiring figurehead. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or here.
Queer Voices | Ep. 2.12 | Interview with Aria Huizenga and Tristan Miedema, founders of the TRANScendent ensemble
The founders of Iowa's only trans and nonbinary singing ensemble — Aria Huizenga (she/her), a drag entertainer and trans activist also known as Tessa Tura, and Tristan Miedema (he/they), TRANScendent Director and Des Moines Gay Men's Chorus (DMGMC) General Manager — talk about the Midwest trans and nonbinary experience. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or here.
GALA in the News | "45 years later, queer choruses still help LGBTQ+ youth find hope"
GALA Choruses' President Justin Fyala shared a thoughtful op-ed in The Advocate about the importance of queer choruses as intergenerational community spaces for LGBTQIA+ youth. Read here.
