November 12, 1999
GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE
pro-active approach to community involveSing Out Toledo!
ment. And that puts a smile on the face of second-year music director Rich Cole.
"It's a way to change people's thoughts, hearts and lives," says Cole. "The chorus is starting to bridge the gap between groups of people. Many of these are within the Cleveland gay community. I really feel like we are accomplishing something."
Baritone Neil Giewont, co-founder of the 12-year-old group and member of GALA's board of directors, likens the festival experience to "performing for 2,500 of your closest friends. Hearing these fabulous choruses is incredibly moving."
Relieving stress, meeting "the most festive folks" and broadening musical tastes are key for soloist and second tenor Ralph DiLudovico.
"It's one of the best investments I've made for myself," says DiLudovico, who keeps his voice in "tip-top shape" to help promote his CD, House of Flowers, Classic Harold Arlen.
Good Company
GALA Choruses Festival 2000 wasn't in the future of the 15-member mixed group that performs music from the chamber choral repertoire. But plans change.
"Not many of the GALA groups have a focus on classical repertoire the way that we do," says music director Karen Weaver of her Cleveland-area singers. "We decided that, not only would it be fun to be there, it would also be good to put our approach and focus out there as another option within the gay, lesbian and bi choral movement."
Members of the five-year-old group focus on casting a more mature light on a repertoire rarely heard outside an academic setting. Good Company is "always looking for a few good men and women with previous choral experience, good sight-reading ability, an ear for foreign language and a sincere desire to work with fine singers who are also ‘good company'," says Weaver.
(The group, by the way, derives its name from the text of Pastime With Good Company, a tune composed by King Henry VIII of England.)
Substituting commitment and willingness to learn for quantity and experience is the key to fun and success for the fourth-year, mixed chorus from northwest Ohio. Sing Out Toledo! begins its season this weekend (Nov. 1314) performing "With One Voice,” a celebration of a century of freedom.
"There is a real synergy to our collective effort," says Becky Roth, an alto in the 20member group as well as its board of trustees chairperson. A sense of humor helps, too. “I have assured people that we started singing together as children at our father's villa in the Austrian Alps, where we had an ex-nun for our first music director."
Sing Out Toledo was the brainchild of Keith Pilkinton, who founded the group in the fall of 1996 after watching his sister perform in Denver's pride festival and GALA Festival V in Tampa earlier that year.
Windsong
A Cleveland area chorus with a 20-year tradition, Windsong (formerly Windsong Womyn's Ensemble) has been a GALA member for the past two years. And while the group will not participate in Festival 2000, fourthyear director Sharon Marrell is happy with Windsong's growing ranks.
"Right now we're at 16 members. When I came on, we had 7, then it grew and 18 has been our highest membership," says Marrell, noting slightly higher participation for spring shows than winter concerts.
Preferring a variety of musical styles that challenge her singers "on all ends," Marrell says Windsong's participation in the GALA Choruses Leadership Weekend in Washington, D.C., over Labor Day weekend gave her "a big advantage in collecting music and helped bring our singers to another level of excitement."
Jeff Woodard is a Chronicle contributing writer living in Cleveland.
Choruses in concert
Columbus Gay Men's Chorus
"He's My Brother" 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 19 and Saturday, Nov. 20; Southern Theatre, 310 S. High St., Columbus.
"The Women We Love” 8 p.m. Friday, March 10, 2000, and Saturday, March 11, 2000; Southern Theatre, 310 S. High St.
"Over the Fruited Plain" 8 p.m. Friday, July 7 and Saturday, July 8 (joint concert with Cincinnati Men's Chorus); Southern Theatre, 310 S. High St.
Muse Cincinnati Women's Choir
"Seventh New Spirituals Concert" 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4, 2000, and 2 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 5, 2000; Mt. Auburn Presbyterian Church, 103 William Howard Taft Rd., Cincinnati.
“Seventeenth Annual Spring Concert" 8 p.m., Friday, May 19, 2000, and Saturday, May 20, 2000, New Thought Unity Center, East MacMillian Ave., Cincinnati. Cincinnati Men's Chorus
"Carols From the Four Corners" 2:07 p.m. and 8:07 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 18, and 2:07 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 19, Jarson-Kaplan Theatre, Aronoff Center for the Arts, 650 Walnut St., Cincinnati.
"Leading Men Don't Dance Broadway Favorites” 2:07 p.m. and 8:07 p.m., Saturday, April 1, 2000, and 2:07 p.m. Sunday, April 2; Jarson-Kaplan Theatre, Aronoff Center for the Arts, 650 Walnut St.
"Among Friends" Saturday, June 10 and Sunday, June 11 (joint concert with Columbus Gay Men's Chorus); Jarson-Kaplan Theatre, Aronoff Center for the Arts, 650 Walnut St.
North Coast Men's Chorus
"Fruitcakes!" 8 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 11, Euclid Avenue Congregational Church, 9606 Euclid Ave., Cleveland; and 3 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 12, West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church, 20401 Hilliard Blvd., Rocky River
"Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" 8 p.m., Saturday, April 1, 2000, Waetjen Auditorium, Cleveland State University, E. 21st St. at Euclid Ave., Cleveland.
"Touching Hearts, Changing Lives" 8 p.m., Saturday, June 24, Waetjen Auditorium, Cleveland State University, E. 21st St. at Euclid Ave.
Good Company
4 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 21; Archwood United Church of Christ, 2800 Archwood Ave., Cleveland
Spring concert; time and date to be announced.
Sing Out Toledo!
"With One Voice" 8 p.m, Saturday, Nov. 13, St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 2272 Collingwood Blvd., Toledo; and 3 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 14, Trinity Episcopal Church, Adams and St. Clair St., Toledo.
May 20-21, 2000, time and location to be announced.
Windsong
4 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 23, 2000, Archwood United Community Church, 2800 Archwood Ave., Cleveland.
4 p.m., Sunday, May 14, Archwood United Community Church, 2800 Archwood Ave, Cleveland.
Cincinnati Men's Chorus
Not Feeling Yourself?
Nova Behavioral Health, Inc.
offers affirming behavioral health services to all people including gay, lesbian, bisexual and/or transgendered people.
• In Canton (330) 455-9407
• In Massillon (330) 833-4132
• In Alliance (330) 821-1995
Medicaid Accepted • Fee Discounts available All Services Confidential
CHIROPRACTIC HEALTH SERVICES
DAVID A. BUDNY, D.C.
16900 DETROIT AVE LAKEWOOD, OHIO 44107 (216) 228-6622
Only your spine needs to be straight!
Wills
Joy B. Savren
Attorney at Law
~
Divorce & Dissolution Custody & Support Personal Injury Accidents Probate of Estates Real Estate Bankruptcy
་
Personal attention to provide individual solutions for issues faced by same sex couples
717 Hanna Building, Cleveland 44115 (216) 771-6597
Savren & Caley LLP
Quality Futon Furniture
We print our prices in our complete catalog. We can send you one today. Cleve. Hts. 1812 Coventry Rd. (216) 371-8489
NORKA Lakewood 15112 Detroit Ave. (216) 226-2660 FUTON Kent
Akron
143 W. Market St. (330) 253-9330 426 E. Main St. (330) 678-1725
Cleveland Hts. • Lakewood • Akron • Kent • Columbus
Cincinnati • Hyde Park • Pittsburgh